In August 2021, China launched the Initiative on China-Africa Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace at the first China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum. To implement the guiding principles laid out by President Xi Jinping in his congratulatory letter to the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) as well as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027), and to further deepen the pragmatic cooperation with African countries in the digital sector, China would like to propose the following plan of actions and welcome the support and participation of African countries to work together for a cyberspace that is fairer and more equitable, more open and inclusive, safer and more stable, and more vibrant, and to accelerate efforts in building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace.
1.Action for digital economy development
1.1 China stands ready to cooperate with African countries in communication infrastructure. We will promote Chinese communication equipment manufaturers and communication developers to carry out stronger cooperation with their African counterparts, and enable Chinese basic telecommunication enterprises to invest in the development of international submarine cable projects in Africa. Chinese enterprises will be encouraged to work with African telecommunication operators in 5G network deployment and application innovation to advance African countries' ICT development and global interconnectivity.
1.2 China will set up a "Cooperation Network of Chinese Internet Enterprises in Africa" to facilitate more Chinese Internet enterprises to stretch out their cooperation business to Africa, so as to put in place a communication platform between Internet enterprises from both sides for in-depth China-Africa Internet exchanges and cooperation.
1.3 China is willing to work with Africa to expand "Silk Road E-Commerce" cooperation to establish bilateral e-commerce cooperation mechanism with more African countries. We will host "Silk Road E-Commerce" online lectures for Africa, online shopping festivals featuring quality African products and tourism e-commerce promotion activities, and launch a campaign to market 100 African stores and 1,000 African products on e-commerce platforms. We will explore and organize exchanges and cooperation acitivities for emerging e-commerce.
2.Action for safeguarding cybersecurity
2.1 China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with African countries in cybersecurity emergency response. We support and encourage CNCERT to reach out to more African CERTs for joint handling of cross-border incidents, experience sharing, and signing of cooperation documents.
2.2 China is ready to invite African partners to attend World Internet Conference events, CNCERT International Partnership Conference and other activities to further enhance mutual trust through dialogue and exchanges.
2.3 China is willing to conduct exchanges and cooperation with Africa in data security and cross-border data flows to jointly address related risks and challenges and promote secure and orderly cross-border flows of data.
3.Action for digital capacity building
3.1 By leveraging the China-Africa Exchange and Cooperation Center on Cybersecurity and Digital Economy, China will explore and carry out more cooperation on the development in the digital sector, while taking Africa's needs into consideration, for the cultivation of more African talents in digital economy, e-commerce, information communication, cybersecurity and AI.
3.2 China will organize the China-Africa Digital Economy Seminar and the China-Africa Cybersecurity Seminar on an annual basis, with a view to enhancing understanding and mutual trust between China and Africa through targeted exchanges and training and to making contribution to the digital transformation of Africa.
3.3 China is willing to continuously deepen dialogue and exchanges with African countries on AI, rules related to cross-border data flows, compliant and secure application of new technologies, personal privacy protection, and formulation and implementation of Internet-related laws and regulations.
4.Action for AI governance