On the afternoon of September 5th, 2017, the cyberspace international law seminar was held as scheduled in Room 228 of Beijing Taikang Business School. This seminar is also part of the third China-Africa Association for International Law Exchange and Research Program. Professor Huang Zhixiong, deputy director of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University and rapporteur of the Working Group on Cyberspace International Law of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, served as the moderator of the conference, Professor Kennedy Gastorn, Secretary General of the AALCO, and Professor Wu ShenKuo, the Academy of Criminal Law Science of Beijing Normal University and Professor Huang Zhixiong gave keynote speeches respectively. Associate Professor Liang Wenwen from the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University participated in the seminar.

The speech of Professor Kennedy Gaston, Secretary-General of the AALCO, was introduced by the concept of sovereignty, peaceful use of networks, and cybercrime. He believes that there is no general definition of cybercrime, because cybercrime is simply a crime that exploits network tools. Cybercrime has caused huge losses to all countries. More than 50% of cybercrime is a transnational crime. Combating cybercrime requires cooperation from all countries. At the same time, there are many difficulties in combating cybercrime. On the one hand, national domestic laws have different standards for identifying cybercrime and hinder international cooperation. On the other hand, there are too many non-legal factors that hinder cooperation among countries, and there is a lack of willingness to cooperate and cooperation between countries. There are a number of legal documents against cybercrime, especially the Budapest Cybercrime Convention (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) drafted by the European Commission in 2001. The Convention is the first international treaty in the world to address cybercrime and is seen as an example of an international cybercrime treaty. At present, most of the countries are European countries, and only four are members of the AALCO. The Convention has exerted great influence, but its content is not perfect. The current problems of cyber terrorism and malicious mail are all problems that the Convention has not properly solved.

Subsequently, Professor Huang Zhixiong gave a speech entitled ‘Questions and Prospects of Combating International Legal Mechanisms of Cybercrime: Reasons for Developing Global Legal Document’s. He pointed out that the current cybercrime has become more and more harmful and has distinct transnational characteristics. It has become an important task to establish a global response mechanism, promote legal coordination among countries, and cooperate in extradition, legal assistance, mutual recognition of judgments, and policing. issue. Taking the Budapest Cybercrime Convention of 2001 as an example, the existing regional legal mechanism has achieved certain results. However, the Budapest Cybercrime Convention also has many shortcomings. For example, it does not involve some new types of cybercrime, and it is difficult to get the approval of most developing countries. To establish a true global legal framework for combating cybercrime, one option is to ‘internationalize’ the existing Budapest Cybercrime Convention, but this is a difficult task, lacking the broad support of developing countries, especially it faces The reality of reality. Another option is to reformulate a multilateral convention on comprehensive cybercrime. There are also some doubts about the program. For example, is it necessary to develop a new global document if regional mechanisms already exist? Professor Huang Zhixiong believes that from the perspective of practice in the field of human rights protection, regional mechanisms and global mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, but can coexist and strengthen each other. Of course, there are legal and political obstacles to the development of a new global convention. On the one hand, there is an in-depth study of the various areas covered by the new convention, and on the other hand, the support of most developed countries is lacking. In the current context, compromises should be sought between the globalization of the Budapest Cybercrime Convention and the promotion of new conventions. It may be considered to first develop a set of model clauses for international cooperation against cybercrime, including the types of core cybercrime, the effectiveness of electronic evidence, jurisdiction, and international cooperation in electronic evidence. The model clauses are not legally binding and are therefore relatively easier to accept internationally.

The third speaker at the seminar was Associate Professor Wu Shenkuo of Beijing Normal University. His speech was titled ‘China's Cybersecurity and Cybercrime: Institutions and Best Practices’. He believes that national experience is the starting point for governance of cybercrime. China has extensive experience in dealing with cybercrime. Professor Wu Shenkuo introduced and evaluated China's policies and legislation on cybersecurity and cybercrime. First, he introduced China's policies on cybersecurity and cybercrime, such as the "Internet +" program, "Made in China 2025", and cybersecurity big data and other macro strategies and policies. Secondly, he introduced and briefly reviewed China's legislation on cybersecurity and cybercrime, such as the cybersecurity law, the E-commerce Law, the Personal Information Protection Act, and the Telecommunications Law. In addition, China has further legislative intent on cybersecurity and cybercrime. Third, he introduced the differences in cybersecurity concepts in various countries. For example, the United States attaches great importance to blocking cyber attacks and emphasizes technology; the EU attaches more importance to network emergencies; China requires ensuring the security of technology, organization and content, and paying attention to all aspects. He believed that the United Nations cannot only see technology and needs comprehensive and integrated legislation. Private subjects also have social and moral obligations to participate in the process of preventing cybercrime.

50 legal officers from 35 member states of the AALCO, non-members Laos, the Association Secretariat and the AU Secretariat participated as participants of the 3rd  China-AALCO Exchange and Research Program on international law. In the Q&A session, the participants had a lively interaction with the three keynote speakers. The participants held active debates on issues such as ‘the existing international law and domestic law restricting cybercrime’ and ‘whether the Convention should become an international cybercrime convention’. The three experts answered the questions of the participants one by one and conducted in-depth discussions on some issues.