This report was co-authored by Zhaohan Li and Liu Yu. Intern Zhang Duo also contributed to this article.

In afternoon of 14th July, the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT) and ICANN Beijing Engagement Center jointly held the ICANN 59 China Internet Community Readout Session. Mr. Zhang Ya, Deputy Director of Information and Communication Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), made his presence and gave opening remarks on the meeting. Over 40 representatives from the Cyberspace Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, domain name registries and registrars, industrial organizations, institutes and universities participated in the seminar. The attendants introduced the developments of the ICANN 59 Johannesburg Meeting held from June 26 to 29 and further discussed the ICANN affairs and hot topics on the meeting. Paul Wilson, Director General of the Asia-Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC), and Duncan Macintosh, President of the APNIC Foundation, were invited to attend the meeting and exchanged views with members of the Chinese community on Internet governance issues.

ICANN 59 China Internet Community Readout Session

On the meeting, Mr. Zhang Jianchuan, Director of the ICANN Beijing engagement Center, outlined the overall situation of the 59th meeting. Guo Feng, Vice Chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) introduced the progress of GAC meetings and participation in Empowered Community. Other attendants, including Chu Nan from CNNIC, Liu Limei from CONAC, Kan Kaili, from At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), and Professor from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Pam Little from Alibaba Cloud, Tan Yaling from Teleinfo, introduced the progresses of topics including the ICANN country code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), work stream 2 of CCWG-Accountability, the next Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policy progress and community elections in new gTLD, the impact of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on domain name services, and names and trademark rights protection, and shared their feelings during ICANN 59.

Paul Wilson, Director General of APNICSome of the rough consensuses include: 1. Communities have begun to participate in Empowered Community (EC), but how could EC improve its operation is yet to be observed; 2. Extension of the CCWG WS2 timeline has been basically confirmed; 3. The next GNSO policy progress may be postponed after 2020 due to relevant reviews and policies; 4. The Chinese community should participate actively in GNSO, striving for their own interests and expanding the impact; 5. Carry out research on the impact of GDPR on domain name service compliance and find feasible solutions for the Chinese community. In addition, Song Linjian from the Worldwide Interconnection and Yao Jiankang from the CNNIC shared their experiences about the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and KSK rollover. The whole seminar was moderated by Liu Yue from CAICT.

During the session, Paul Wilson appreciated the contributions of the Chinese community to ICANN affairs and looked forward to cooperation with more Chinese institutions for facilitating the Internet governance and development within the Asia-Pacific region. Paul Wilson also pointed out that the Asia-Pacific region encompasses a wide range of cultures due to its broad area span, and ICANN should continue to improve its diversity and enhance the representation of Asia-Pacific region. Asian countries should also take full advantage of the community and industry’s initiative, participate more in ICANN affairs and strive for greater benefits for their own users—APNIC will offer its support as usual. Duncan Macintosh introduced the APNIC Foundation and hoped to have further communications with the Chinese community to collaborate on projects.

Representatives all agreed that the Chinese community needed to strengthen communication and have further coordination, enhance the initiative and participation in depth, expand the Chinese community’s participation in ICANN activities and the mass base, as well as have further cooperation with other relevant departments, so as to better solve the Internet governance related issues, promote the development of China’s Internet domain name industry jointly and enhance the Chinese community’s voice and influence.