China Voice: China, U.S. can build "community of common destiny" in cyberspace

There were a lot of intriguing moments at the just-concluded eighth China-U.S. Internet Forum, be it Mark Zuckerberg showing off his Mandarin, Bill Gates rolling out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping or Tim Cook examining a Chinese-made smartphone.

The tech executives had every reason to celebrate the gathering. For a long time, the Chinese market, which boasts more Internet users than any other country, has helped prop up U.S. tech giants' revenues. In turn, their Chinese counterparts have also flourished by "learning from the best."

Chinese companies such as online commerce giant Alibaba have gone public in the United States, benefitting both U.S. investors and Chinese employees.

Based on a rough calculation, the total market capitalization of the companies present at the forum exceeded 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. If they formed a country, they would rank as the world's seventh largest economy, surpassing Brazil.

While the forum produced plenty to talk about, a larger and more important question lies ahead: can China and the United States continue to forge a mutually beneficial relationship and build a "community of common destiny" online?

China has become wary of purchasing American telecommunications products after Edward Snowden revealed that the United States has installed "back doors," or software that allows covert searches of user data, in some devices. The United States has also accused China of hacking corporate trade secrets and stealing government employee information, which China has denied.

Such contentions are only the natural result of the differences between China and the United States and their national conditions. But they cannot ignore the mistrust and suspicion. If not handled carefully, mistrust can lead to miscalculation, and eventually to cyber war, a scenario neither side wants to see.

The two have gained a lot from their past cooperation. If we look at the past, we see a partnership in which both have tried to solve differences while seeking mutual benefits.

In the past two decades, the Internet has improved Sino-US relations by enabling sharing and connections. It has helped many to realize their "American dream" or, more recently, "Chinese dream."

Riding this wave, more Chinese Internet companies have made efforts to reach outside China. Several, such as Chinese car-hailing service DiDi-Kuaidi and U.S. professional networking site LinkedIn, have signed deals at the forum to share their user data.

If we want this trend to go on, both sides need to solve differences while seeking common interests.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping put it when attending the forum, China and the United States have important common interests and room for cooperation. "The two sides can create a new bright spot in bilateral cooperation and enable cyberspace to bring more benefits to the two nations and people across the world," Xi said.

The significance of the forum as well as Xi's U.S. visit is to send the message that China is willing to set aside differences, see the larger picture and look forward to the future.

Moreover, China-US cyber cooperation requires coping with common challenges, such as terrorism on the Internet, online security, transnational law enforcement and hacking.

Before his visit, Xi told the Wall Street Journal that the Chinese government does not engage in theft of commercial secrets in any form, nor does it encourage or support Chinese companies to engage in such practices in any way, and expressed his willingness to have in-depth exchanges of views with U.S. President Obama.

Xi's words also demonstrated China's resolve to protect Internet security.

The ability of China and the United States to work out their differences does not only concern themselves, but also billions of people in other countries. The world is waiting. Endi