Abstract: Digital sovereignty is a natural extension of national sovereignty in the digital realm. Like traditional sovereignty, it encompasses the supreme internal authority and external autonomy of a nation in the digital sphere. Digital sovereignty primarily comprises network sovereignty and data sovereignty. In terms of cyber sovereignty, the “peaceful” and “daily” nature of the cyberspace should be upheld, underscoring a nation's jurisdiction, management, and regulatory powers rooted in national sovereignty. Concerning data sovereignty, a balanced and moderate approach to regulating cross-border data flows should be pursued so as to strike an optimal balance between upholding data sovereignty and fostering digital economic development. The proper interpretation and application of digital sovereignty can facilitate the advancement of global digital governance, while its misinterpretation and misuse might spur excessive regulatory expansion and hasten the "digital decoupling" between Western nations and China. In response, China ought to insist on the national and “defensive” nature of digital sovereignty and explore a more balanced and moderate regulatory approach at the national level, make more flexible and effective responses to the “equivalent regulation” requirement, including exploring on the possibility of proactively making “reverse” adequacy recognition at the bilateral level, and forge and establish a model for global digital governance based on sovereign equality while making full use of the relevant regional mechanisms at the multilateral level.

Keywords: digital sovereignty; network sovereignty; data sovereignty; global digital governance; community of shared future in cyberspace

Author: Liao Fan, deputy director and research fellow, CASS Bureau of International Cooperation; and professor and doctoral supervisor, Law School of the University of CASS;

Source: 7 (2024) Jinan Journal (Philosophy and Social Sciences).