On November 14, 2013, the academic salon of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University was held in the 323 classroom as scheduled. The salon was delivered by Professor Huang Zhixiong from the Department of International Public Law, with the theme of “The Issue of International Law on Cyber Security and Its Recent Development”. Professor Huang Zhixiong first briefly introduced the brief background of cybersecurity issues, including the large-scale cyberattacks in Estonia in 2007, the cyberattacks in Georgia in 2008, and the concerns of the “Stuxnet” virus incident in Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2010. Then, Professor Huang elaborated on several important developments surrounding the cybersecurity issue in the past year: the introduction of the Tallinn Handbook, the convening of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference, the "Prism Gate" incident and the US Internet Monitoring Program, and the GGE report of United Nations and the just-concluded Seoul Cyberspace Conference.

Subsequently, Professor Huang Zhixiong focused on the above-mentioned recent developments and analyzed the main international law issues involved in current cybersecurity. For example, in the application of cyberspace rules, whether we should apply existing international law or new international law rules; cyber attacks and relationship between the use of force in international law and cyberattacks; controversy surrounding "network sovereignty"; Internet international governance mechanisms and other issues. Professor Huang put forward his own views and opinions on each issue. For example, he believes that the adoption of the 2013 GGE report of the United Nations and the results of the Seoul Cyberspace Conference show that countries have shown greater willingness to cooperate in dealing with cybersecurity issues. The "Prism Gate" incident has also had a profound impact on the strength comparison of the two camps in the field of cybersecurity - the US-European camp and the Sino-Russian camp.

In the questioning session, Associate Professor Feng Jiechi of Wuhan University Law School asked Prof. Huang about whether it is possible for countries to protect network security by developing their own IP protocols, which triggered a heated discussion among teachers and classmates. Professor Huang also have expressed his opinion on how to attribute it in the sense of technical issue and international law. Some of the students present questioned about the ITU reform issue. Finally, we discussed whether the concept of “network sovereignty” was appropriate. Many teachers including Professor Zhang Qinglin and Associate Professor Shi Lei of Wuhan University Law School expressed their opinions and put forward their own opinions. .

The academic salon was presided over by Professor Nie Jianqiang, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University. The teachers of the Institute of International Law, some doctoral students, master students and undergraduates attended the salon.