[The National Cyberspace Security] Strategy fully embodies General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strategic thinking on building a Cyber Great Power and serves as a programmatic document guiding the country’s cybersecurity work.
“CAC Releases National Cyberspace Security Strategy, Outlines Missions including Safeguarding Cyberspace Sovereignty (国家网信办发布《国家网络空间安全战略》 提出捍卫网络空间主权等任务),” Xinhua, December 27, 2016.
On December 27, 2016, with the approval of the the Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released the National Cyberspace Security Strategy (国家网络空间安全战略). On the same day, Xinhua published a summary of the strategy, laying out its strategic objective (end state) and nine main missions (ways).
The Xinhua summary is particularly useful because it highlights the strategy’s strategic objective, twice. First, it quotes the Deputy Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China emphasizing that “the strategy…fully embodies General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strategic thinking on building a Cyber Great Power…” Second, it highlights that the strategy’s strategic objective is stated plainly in the final clause of the opening paragraph of Section Two (Objectives): “…achieve the strategic objective of building a Cyber Great Power (…实现建设网络强国的战略目标).”
It is important for us to remember that when it comes to the Party’s national cyber strategy, cooperation is a means, not the end. The ultimate aim is the attainment of Cyber Great Power status.
December 27, 2016
Xinhua
In response to the increasingly severe cybersecurity situation, and with the approval of the Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization, the Cyberspace Administration of China on the 27th issued the National Cyberspace Security Strategy. The strategy sets out nine missions: safeguarding cyberspace sovereignty, safeguarding national security, protecting critical information infrastructure, strengthening cyber culture development, combating cyber terrorism and illegal crimes, improving the cyberspace governance system, consolidating the foundations of cybersecurity, enhancing cyberspace defense capabilities, and strengthening international cooperation in cyberspace. | 针对日益严峻的网络安全形势，经中央网络安全和信息化领导小组批准，国家互联网信息办公室27日发布《国家网络空间安全战略》，提出捍卫网络空间主权、维护国家安全、保护关键信息基础设施、加强网络文化建设、打击网络恐怖和违法犯罪、完善网络治理体系、夯实网络安全基础、提升网络空间防护能力、强化网络空间国际合作等9项任务。
At present, China faces severe risks and challenges to cyberspace security, including attacks and sabotage against critical information infrastructure that seriously endanger national economic security and the public interest; harmful information such as online rumors, obscenity, violence, and superstition that erode cultural security and the physical and mental well-being of young people; the widespread presence of cyberterrorism and illegal online crimes that threaten people’s lives and property and disrupt social order; and increasingly intense international competition over control of cyberspace resources and the right to set rules, as well as a cyberspace arms race that challenges world peace. | 当前，我国网络空间安全面临严峻风险与挑战，包括关键信息基础设施遭受攻击破坏，严重危害国家经济安全和公共利益；网络谣言、淫秽、暴力、迷信等有害信息侵蚀文化安全和青少年身心健康；网络恐怖和违法犯罪大量存在，威胁人民生命财产安全，破坏社会秩序；围绕网络空间资源控制权、规则制定权的国际竞争日趋激烈，网络空间军备竞赛挑战世界和平等。
“Cyberspace is profoundly transforming the way people live and work, but security issues cannot be ignored,” said Wang Xiujun, Deputy Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China. The strategy, she noted, fully embodies General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strategic thinking on building a Cyber Great Power and serves as a programmatic document guiding the country’s cybersecurity work. The strategy calls for taking the Holistic National Security Concept as guidance; fully implementing the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing; strengthening risk awareness and crisis awareness; coordinating the two overall situations, domestic and international; and balancing the two major issues of development and security. The strategy urges active defense and effective response; promotes a cyberspace that is peaceful, secure, open, cooperative, and orderly: safeguards national sovereignty, security, and development interests; and seeks to achieve the strategic objective of building China into a Cyber Great Power. | “网络空间正全面改变人们的生产生活方式，但安全问题不容忽视。”国家网信办副主任王秀军说，战略充分体现了习近平总书记网络强国战略思想，是指导国家网络安全工作的纲领性文件。战略提出，以总体国家安全观为指导，贯彻落实创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念，增强风险意识和危机意识，统筹国内国际两个大局，统筹发展安全两件大事，积极防御、有效应对，推进网络空间和平、安全、开放、合作、有序，维护国家主权、安全、发展利益，实现建设网络强国的战略目标。
The strategy also states that a secure, stable, and prosperous cyberspace is of great significance to all countries and to the world as a whole. China is willing to work with other countries to uphold the principles of respecting and safeguarding cyberspace sovereignty, making peaceful use of cyberspace, governing cyberspace according to law, and balancing cybersecurity and development. It calls for strengthening communication, broadening consensus, deepening cooperation, and actively advancing reform of the global internet governance system, so as to jointly safeguard peace and security in cyberspace. | 战略还提出，一个安全稳定繁荣的网络空间，对各国乃至世界都具有重大意义。中国愿与各国一道，坚持尊重维护网络空间主权、和平利用网络空间、依法治理网络空间、统筹网络安全与发展，加强沟通、扩大共识、深化合作，积极推进全球互联网治理体系变革，共同维护网络空间和平安全。