Exploring China’s Scheme of Legalization of Internet Governance

　　互联网不是法外之地，互联网治理必须依法进行，互联网治理法治化势在必行。2016年4月19日，最高领袖总书记发表了《在网络安全和信息化工作座谈会上的讲话》。在习总书记系列讲话精神和新发展理念指引下，近年来我国互联网治理法治化进程日新月异，取得的成就也非常显著，总结并阐发其中的治理意涵与法治意义很有必要。

　　党的十八大以来，我国互联网事业发展迅速，阿里巴巴等本土互联网巨头凭借中国庞大的市场体量和创新空间，已经可以与国外同行分庭抗礼并日渐赶超，互联网新技术、新思维与新创造也已经日益深刻地影响社会生活的方方面面。与此同时，继“互联网+”成为时代热词并进入总理政府工作报告，围绕着“互联网+”的国家战略、行动计划和治理举措不断推出，互联网治理法治化被摆在了前所未有的战略高度，成为“四个全面”战略布局的有机组成部分和重要推进抓手。

　　The so-called "legalization of Internet governance" is to use the rule of law thinking and the rule of law to reform the system and mechanism of Internet space governance, improve the ability of Internet space governance, keep Internet governance within the orbit of rule of law, and constantly promote the innovation of the rule of law system based on the practice of Internet governance, and finally realize the coordinated advancement of modernization and rule of law of Internet space governance. The legalization of Internet governance is of great significance:

　　First of all, the rule of law in Internet governance is an important guarantee for the strategy of strengthening the country through the Internet. The rule of law is a reliable guarantee for development. The "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" outlines the strategic deployment of "developing network economy and building a network power". The implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country by network needs not only a strong network infrastructure, key network core technologies and a large number of network innovative talents as a solid support, but also a legal governance system as a solid guarantee.

　　Secondly, the rule of law in Internet governance is an inevitable requirement for comprehensively governing the country according to law. The rule of law in an all-round way focuses on comprehensiveness. When the innovative ideas, structures, elements and technologies in the Internet era become the national strategic actions and the mainstream lifestyle, the time and space scope and methods of the rule of law will inevitably usher in a revolutionary change. Internet space is certainly not a place of extra-legality, and the governance innovation of Internet space must also take the rule of law as the basic principle and limit.

　　Third, the legalization of Internet governance is the proper meaning of modern state governance. Modern governance is different from traditional management. Modern state governance has the characteristics of subject diversification, flat structure, co-governance of soft and hard laws and autonomy, which are highly compatible with the ecological environment and behavioral logic of Internet space. Therefore, Internet space is not only an important place for modern state governance, but also an important driving force for the latter’s innovation and development.

　　Finally, the legalization of Internet governance is the key link of global governance reconstruction. The global governance system is undergoing transformation. The end of the Cold War sounded the clarion call for the end of the modern international governance order. Almost at the same time, the Internet, as a transformative force, has an influence beyond the boundaries of time and space. After sea power, land power and air power, Internet sovereignty will inevitably play an important role in the reconstruction of global governance order and become the key point of international wrestling.

　　Second, China’s exploration of the rule of law in Internet governance

　　General Secretary Supreme Leader’s speech at the symposium on network security and informatization painted a vivid blueprint for China’s Internet governance at present and for a long time to come, and also summarized and guided the practical exploration of Internet governance legalization in recent years. Specifically, the relevant exploration is reflected in the following aspects:

　　(1) Reform of the Internet management system. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that in practice, in the face of the rapid development of Internet technology and application, the current management system has obvious drawbacks, mainly multi-head management, overlapping functions, different powers and responsibilities and low efficiency. To this end, based on the Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, top-level designs such as the National Security Council and the Leading Group for Network Security and Informatization have been launched one after another, and the Internet management system, network emergency handling mechanism and network real-name registration system have also been established and improved. This provides a solid foundation for the legalization of Internet governance from the institutional mechanism.

　　(2) Construction of Internet legal system. For a long period of time, the construction of China’s Internet legal system has lagged behind, and the related legislation has many problems, such as scattered heads, low level, weak strength and outdated ideas. In recent years, China has accelerated the relevant legislative process, and formed an Internet legal norm system with strong clustering, high level, strong guarantee and innovative ideas, covering Internet governance fields such as Internet benchmark, Internet management, cyber crime crackdown and network economy promotion. In particular, the Internet Security Law passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on November 7, 2016 constitutes the main legislation of China’s current Internet legal system.

　　(3) The construction of a government ruled by law in internet plus. The basic establishment of a government ruled by law in 2020 is the key goal of governing the country according to law in an all-round way, and it is promising to use the "internet plus" to help build a government ruled by law. The General Secretary of the Supreme Leader demanded that the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity should be promoted by informatization, e-government should be developed as a whole, an integrated online service platform should be built, the construction of new smart cities should be promoted by classification, information barriers should be broken down, and a national information resource sharing system should be built, so as to better use informatization to perceive social situation, smooth communication channels and assist scientific decision-making. These are the proper meanings of building a government ruled by law in internet plus, and they have been implemented continuously in recent years.

　　(4) Develop the network economy according to law. Market economy is an economy ruled by law, and network economy, as the innovative development and evolution form of market economy, should also follow the logic of the rule of law and be guaranteed by it. To implement the national strategy of developing network economy, we need to focus on promoting the deep integration of the Internet and the real economy, and promote the optimization of resource allocation by using information flow to drive technology flow, capital flow, talent flow and material flow. To this end, the central government has successively issued policy documents such as "internet plus Action Plan" and "Action Plan for Promoting the Development of Big Data", together with "Opinions on Improving the Property Rights Protection System to Protect Property Rights according to Law", to escort the development of China’s network economy.