The Sub-Forum on Rule of Law Building in Cyberspace of the 2022 China Internet Civilization Conference was held on Aug 29 in North China's Tianjin municipality. Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), attended and addressed the forum via video link. 

Zhou extended his warm congratulations to the conference and the forum. He said that the central leadership has attached great importance to the building of internet civilization and a law-based cyberspace since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012. The people's courts in China have actively explored internet-based judicial models and promoted the rule of law on cyberspace governance, under the guidance of the central leadership's thoughts on building the nation into a leading cyberpower, Zhou said. 

Courts nationwide have established internet courts, intensified the application of such technologies as big data, cloud computing, blockchain and artificial intelligence, released three sets of regulations on online litigation, mediation and operation, as well as the directive on intensifying the judicial application of blockchain technology, according to Zhou. They have built a world-leading regulation system for internet judiciary and a smart court that handles cases online, with transparent and intelligent services for the whole process, he added. 

China's courts have released judicial interpretations on topics such as facial recognition, online consumption, information network rights infringement and telecom fraud, and heard a number of cases with social and rule-setting significance, which is conducive to the healthy development of cyberspace governance and the digital economy, he noted. 

He voiced the need for thorough communication, mutual inspiration and stronger cooperation by all parties at the forum, in order to jointly promote comprehensive cyberspace governance with the rule of law. 

He suggested strengthening communication and experience sharing to accelerate the construction of the rule of law in cyberspace, adopting a demand-orientated approach to deepen pragmatic cooperation in coping with new challenges, and jointly exploring new models of law-based cyberspace governance. Efforts are also needed in reforms and innovations to improve the regulation system and related legislation, intensify law enforcement, publicity, research work and team building, all aiming for a clean and upright cyberspace, he said.

Yang Linping, vice-president of the SPC, presided over the forum and delivered a keynote speech.

As one of the sub-forums of the 2022 China Internet Civilization Conference, the Sub-Forum on Rule of Law Building in Cyberspace was themed on achieving higher level digital justice with law-based governance, with discussions on frontier theories and hot topics including the reform of digital courts, the construction and development of the smart court, and digital governance and internet civilization.