The Ninth meeting of the Sino-European Cyber Dialogue (SECD) was convened in a hybrid format on 12 and 13 October 2021 in Berlin. The meeting was hosted by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office. The ninth meeting represented an important milestone as the longest-running track-2 meeting format on cyber policy worldwide, which has traditionally built on the strong multilateral engagement of governments.
SECD is a track-2 dialogue on cyberspace issues supported by the Chinese and a number of European governments, as well as the European External Action Service (EEAS). Previous meetings have taken place in Beijing, Geneva, Hangzhou, Oslo, and The Hague. Despite the challenging Covid-19 circumstances, the meeting in Berlin was attended by more than 50 Chinese and European academics and government officials, including many European Cyber Ambassadors, the EEAS, as well as a number of Chinese ministries and organizations.
The dialogue is a confidence-building measure that increases transparency and mutual understanding on the European and Chinese cyber policies. Participants discussed challenges and opportunities on international cybersecurity issues, cybercrime, data protection, the digital economy and Internet governance, as well as new threats and ways to deal with them. Participants identified areas of potential cooperation and discussed ways to advance the consensus within the UN First Committee Processes. This included discussions on questions of international law, norms of responsible state behavior, capacity building, and confidence-building measures.
The discussion also greatly profited from briefings by each side on how issues related to incident management, trade and digital economy, data protection as well as issues such as artificial intelligence and other new technologies are handled. Questions and answers on various laws and regulations were exchanged, contributing further to mutual transparency and understanding.
The delegates stressed the importance of open communication and recognized the value that such dialogues have on enhancing mutual understanding, cooperation and de-escalation, and in ensuring the overall stability of cyberspace.
Looking forward, delegates expressed their willingness to continue the discussions in the tenth iteration of the Sino-European Cyber Dialogue. In the meantime, HCSS and CICIR will explore ways to facilitate academic Sino-European confidence-building measures.
Experts
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