On the recommendation of the Chinese government, Professor Huang Zhixiong, the deputy director of the Institute, was successfully elected as the special rapporteur of the organization's cyberspace international law working group at the 55th annual meeting of the AALCO held in New Delhi, India on May 17-20. It will help strengthen the voice of China and other Asian and African countries in the formulation of international rules for cyberspace. It is reported that this is the first time that a Chinese expert has served as a special rapporteur in the official working group of the organization.

The Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization was established in 1956 according to the decision of the Bandung Conference in 1955. It is the only intergovernmental international organization in the field of international law between Asia and Africa. It currently has 47 member states and 2 observer countries. The organization's mission is to provide advice to member governments in the field of international law and to provide a forum for Asian and African countries to cooperate on legal issues of common concern, thereby guiding the legal practice of Asian and African countries and promoting the progressive development and codification of international law. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the role of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization in uniting Asian and African countries and actively building the international rule of law and order. At the 54th annual meeting of the organization held in Beijing in April 2015, Premier Li Keqiang attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech, proposing that Asian and African countries should actively participate in international legislation to jointly address global non-traditional security challenges such as cybersecurity. It was announced that the Chinese government will fund the establishment of the China-Africa Legal Consultation International Law Exchange and Research Project to support the development of the organization.

The international law of cyberspace is a hot issue that has been widely concerned by the international community in recent years, and it is also a focus area for major powers to compete for the dominance of international rules. At the initiative of the Chinese government, the AALCO listed this issue as a formal issue for the first time at the 53rd annual meeting in 2014, and decided to establish a working group on international law on cyberspace at the 54th annual meeting in 2015. From the current annual meeting, the working group plans to converge the consensus of member states through special research and inter-sessional meetings to enhance the influence of Asian and African countries in the formulation of international rules for cyberspace.

The special rapporteur is a system commonly used by international legal bodies such as the United Nations International Law Commission. Its main purpose is to rely on the expertise of relevant international law experts and in-depth research in a certain field, through the drafting of research reports, resolutions, etc. To promote the formulation of new rules of international law, the clarification of existing rules and further development. Special rapporteurs often play a key role in the practice of these international legal institutions.

In addition, during the 25th session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), held on May 23rd-27th, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization organized a side event on International Cooperation against Cybercrime at the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna. Rahmat Mohamad, Secretary-General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, was the moderator of the meeting. Professor Huang Zhixiong and Neil Walsh, senior expert of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), spokesperson, Hossein Panahiazar, Director of the International Legal Affairs Department of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ayesha, Ambassador of Pakistan to Austria Riyaz and nearly 50 officials from China, Russia, the United States, Canada and other countries attended the meeting. In his speech, Professor Huang Zhixiong expounded the status quo and problems of the international law mechanism against cybercrime and the idea of formulating a new global cybercrime convention, which was welcomed and praised by the participants.

In recent years, Professor Huang Zhixiong has devoted himself to the study of international law on cyberspace. He has been invited to participate in international conferences and academic conferences in this field, and has provided many consultation reports and attention to the Chinese government. He is the only member of the international expert group from China in the "Tallinn 2.0" cyberspace international law project with extensive influence internationally. Professor Huang Zhixiong was elected as the special rapporteur of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization Working Group on Cyberspace International Law and will further expand the international influence of the Institute as a national high-end think tank.