On June 20, 2019, the 7th China-France International Symposium was successfully held at the Paris Notary Public Association. The Symposium was jointly organized by Université de Paris VIII’s Research Center of Private Law and Health Law, Legal Power Institute, the School of the Law-based Government under the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), and Paris Notary Public Association.
This year's "China-France International Symposium" is based on the theme of "digital sovereignty in the interaction among technology giants, countries and enterprises". It aims to get better understanding of digital activities, to regulate digital activities, to ensure the free sharing of data, through in-depth exploration of the impact of the technology giants such as GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) and BAT on countries and enterprises. The conference is divided into four sections, focusing on "the theoretical basis of digital sovereignty", "regulation and security of digital activities", "the role of Internet companies in information protection and sharing" and "A new normativity of digital construction: in search of equity and digital benevolence?” The Chinese and French representatives who participated in the meeting spoke freely, and many inspiring new ideas emerged in the process. Especially in dealing with the relationship among technology giants, countries and enterprises, data portability, digital sovereignty, data protection and international digital legislation, the two sides introduced their own experiences and conducted discussions.
According to the schedule of the meeting, Xing Faliang, deputy secretary-general of the China Federation of Internet Societies, delivered a keynote speech at the round-table forum unit on “Regulation and Security of Digital Activities”, highlighting the process of cyber security legislation in China and emphasizing that China takes multilateralism which was established by the UN Charter as the basic guiding principle of global Internet governance. China insists on exploring better solutions for international and domestic Internet governance under the principle of national sovereignty, insists on the global Internet governance concept which is sharing, negotiation, and cooperation. China opposes that some countries interfere other countries’ internal affairs through Internet by using their first-mover and technological advantages. The Chinese government will protect the cyber security and actively respond to the new situations and challenges brought about by the development of the Internet. China will contributes China’s wisdom and plans to build the community of a share future for cyberspace, and fulfill people’s anticipation of a better life in cyberspace in the new era.
Professor Zhang Li from the School of the Law-based Government, CUPL, presided over the closing ceremony and made a concluding speech. Professor Zhang pointed out that global cyberspace security and data protection issues do exist, but it needs to be recognized that global Internet governance at the national level and the active participation of market players and social entities are key elements in solving the series of issues.
The Forum also invited experts and scholars from Université de Paris VIII, CUPL, UNESCO, DiDi Travel, the Foundation for Civil Law, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, University of Avignon, University of Mons, Paris Descartes University, the University of Sorbonne in Paris, and other institutions.