Internet summit in Hong Kong highlights digital future

The 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Asia-Pacific Summit opened on Monday in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, attracting nearly 1,000 participants from around the globe to explore future development and potentials across various domains in digital technology.

The two-day summit was held under the theme of "Integration of AI and Digital Technologies Shaping the Future - Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace."

Apart from the opening ceremony and the main forum, this summit also holds sub-forums on topics such as large-scale AI models, digital finance, and smart living, to discuss the latest trends in the technology sector, share experiences, deepen cooperation, and shape new dynamics and advantages for development in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The Asia-Pacific Summit held in Hong Kong for the first time will bring very rare opportunities for the future of Hong Kong. For the coordination between Hong Kong and the mainland, especially in technological innovation, the mutual empowerment of talent, and industry integration, it should be said that they reinforce each other and promote integrated development," said Zhang Donggang, Party (Communist Party of China) committee chief, Renmin University of China.

In addition, there were government-enterprise exchange meetings, multiple seminars on AI governance and global sustainable development, and other activities during the summit.

A total of 11 research reports, including "Empowering Global Sustainable Development with Universally Beneficial and Inclusive Artificial Intelligence Governance," were also released during the summit.

Since its inception in 2014, the WIC has been held annually in Wuzhen, in east China's Zhejiang Province. Originally launched as a yearly event, the WIC evolved into an international organization in July 2022. Headquartered in Beijing, it is dedicated to global internet governance and committed to building a high-level dialog platform for the global internet community.

Internet summit in Hong Kong highlights digital future

The expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between Russia and the United States has raised concerns among Russian experts, who warned that the absence of a successor pact could spark a new arms race.

The New START, signed by Russia and the United States in 2010, aims to limit the number of deployed nuclear warheads and their delivery systems. The treaty entered into force on Feb 5, 2011, with an initial validity period of 10 years and was later extended through Feb 4, 2026.

Experts in Moscow urged both sides to negotiate new arms control agreements and rules.

"The main risk is that the United States has opened the Pandora's box. A new arms race will begin, which will be difficult to control, because it lacks mutual oversight and transparency. The U.S. does not hide the fact that it wants to start a new arms race to defeat all geopolitical competitors," said Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Russian experts also said that the United States had not always adhered to its commitments even while the treaty was in force.

"The original treaty included provisions for inspections of nuclear facilities in both countries. In practice, however, inspections were interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and since then, the United States has on more than one occasion evaded obligations on this issue stipulated in the treaty," said Konstantin Kamkin, a senior researcher at the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

Absence of new arms reduction accord risks renewed arms race: Russia experts