The governance of cyberspace should be guided by principles including sovereignty, equality and noninterference in internal affairs, a senior diplomat said on Monday.

Qian Hongshan, China's assistant foreign minister, said that necessary cyberspace security supervision should not be sidestepped "on the excuse of market and trade liberalization".

"It is important to accommodate the concerns of different parties and refrain from imposing certain rules on others," he said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the International Workshop on Cyber Security in Beijing. The forum is co-hosted by China and the United Nations. It's the second time China and the UN co-host an international workshop on cyber issues - the first was in 2014.

"The pursuit of unilateral advantage through technological monopoly, the attempt to seek the so-called absolute security for oneself at the expense of the security of others, and the practice of making judgment on the basis of one's own interests or applying double standards are not just unpopular, but also detrimental to one's own security," he said while introducing China's views on cyberspace rules.

He called on joint efforts for the governance of cyberspace under the principles enshrined in the UN Charter including sovereignty equality, nonuse of force, and peaceful settlement of disputes.

During the two-day seminar, diplomats from countries including Russia, the United States, Britain and Australia will exchange views on the establishment of a system of rules for cyberspace.

There remain some unanswered questions including how malicious acts can be made accountable and how to maintain balance between protecting privacy and state security, said Kim Won-soo, undersecretary-general and high representative for disarmament affairs of the UN.

"The longer these questions remain unanswered, the larger a normative gap grows. It will continue to be exploited by malicious acts," said Kim, an influential adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"We cannot overemphasize the centrality of cyber security to the entire international community," he said, calling on joint efforts to "build an open, reliable, safe, secure, stable and inclusive internet".

Zhang Shuhua, a researcher of the Institute of Information Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that all countries should have equal participation in the making of international cyberspace rules, and the process should not be dominated by only one country.

The global governance of cyberspace should be achieved through international negotiation under the framework of the UN, he added.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/12/2016 page3)