More candor called for at Internet forum

Mutual trust, less suspicion and more candid talk should be the ingredients to help China and the US seek common ground and solve difficult problems when it comes to the Internet, said industry players, government officials and scholars at the US-China Internet Industry Forum (UCIF) on Wednesday in Redmond, Washington.

The forum, now in its 8th consecutive year, and was held at the Redmond campus of Microsoft.

Lu Wei, minister of China's Cyberspace Administration, assured the attendees that the Chinese government will stick to its policy of opening its economy to foreign investment. Meanwhile, China will continue to refine its open systems and welcome foreign investment and technology, he said.

"As President Xi Jinping emphasized many times in his recent remarks that the relationship between China and the US is mutually beneficial and complementary, we need to work together as two big countries that are willing to take more responsibility and together we can make the world a better place," Lu said.

On challenges in the Internet industry that China and the US encounter, Lu once again cited Xi in reiterating the importance of more understanding and trust between the two countries.

"We need to work together to reduce estrangement and suspicion in order to forestall misunderstanding and miscalculations," Xi said on Tuesday night in a speech at a welcoming dinner hosted by local and national communities in Seattle.

"Mutual benefit and win-win situation is always the essential aspect of Sino-US cyber relationship," he said. "The internet originated from the US and has greatly promoted the progress of human society. China is the world's largest internet market and also the 'land of promise' for the US high-tech companies. More than 600 million Internet users in China bring infinite business opportunities."

So far, more than 2,500 US IT enterprises have invested in China, expanding their market while driving the development of China's Internet. "Many of them have made more profits in China than in their home country. They have shared the result of China's internet development," Xi added.

On the sidelines of the forum, seven deals or memorandum of understanding were signed between major Chinese and the US Internet companies, including Microsoft, Linkedin, Lyfy, Baidu, CETC, UNIS and Didi Kuaidi.

Microsoft announced on Wednesday a strategic partnership with China's Baidu to deliver Winders 10 with Baidu search in China. Under the agreement, the two sides will make it easy for Chinese users to upgrade to a custom experience with Windows 1o, where Baidu.com will become the default homepage and search for the Microsoft Edge browsers in Windows 10. Baidu will also provide a distribution channel of Baidu "Windows 10 Express".

Liu Qiangdong, founder and chairman of JD.com, an e-commerce enterprise in China, told the forum that Chinese and the US Internet companies have extensive cooperation in finance, technology, human resources and market.

"Currently, Chinese Internet enterprises are actively expanding international business and stepping up efforts in overseas investment and acquisition.

"Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and some other companies have set up branches or offices in the US. JD.com has also invested in quite some US technology companies," Liu said.

He said the number of Chinese Internet users is expected to exceed 1 billion, which will benefit both Chinese and the US Internet enterprises.

"The industries in both countries have the same interest demands. Cooperation is an important approach to win-win-result," said Wu Hequan, president of the Internet Society of China. "The US is the country which has the most advanced Internet technologies and also the most advanced applications. Both countries' digital economies have maintained good growth momentum."

"The economic relationship between China and the US is the most important one between two countries for the 21st century.

"What we need to work for is how to build a mutual prosperity and mutual security for our peoples," said US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews.

Contact the writers at junechang@chinadailyusa.com and liazhu@chinadailyusa.com