Q3/2020 - Amerikanisch-Chinesischer Cyberkonflikt

US Executive Order gegen TikTok und WeChat, 6. August 2020

 Im 3. Quartal 2020 ist die amerikanisch-chinesische Cyberkonflikt sowohl wirtschaftlich als auch politisch weiter eskaliert.

Am 6. August 2020 hat US-Präsident Donald Trump zwei „Executive Orders“ unterzeichnet, die Aktivitäten der chinesischen Internetdienste TikTok (Bytedance) und WeChat (Tencent) einschränken. Amerikanischen Unternehmen wird es untersagt, chinesische Internetdienste anzubieten und Komponenten von chinesischer Soft- und Hardware zu verwenden. Begründet werden diese Maßnahmen mit Hinweis auf eine Gefährdung der nationalen Sicherheit der USA. Daten von amerikanischen Staatsbürgern könnten in die Hände der chinesischen Regierung gelangen, die diese dann zum Nachteil der USA nutzen würden. Angegriffen wird von den USA seit langem eine Beteiligung von Huawei am Auf- und Ausbau von 5G-Netzen[1]. Die chinesische Regierung hat ihrerseits eine Exportbeschränkung von chinesischer IT-Technologie verfügt, die es wiederum Bytedance, Tencent und anderen chinesischen Internetgiganten wie AliBaba oder Huawei untersagt, bestimmte Komponenten ihrer Unternehmen an US-amerikanische Unternehmen zu verkaufen. China hat auch angedroht, die Einschränkungen gegen TikTok vor ein Schiedsgericht der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) zu bringen, da sie die WTO-Regeln für einen freien Dienstleistungshandel verletzen. Auch in den USA stieß die Entscheidung des US-Präsidenten auf Kritik und Unverständnis. Avery Gardiner vom „Center for Democracy and Technology“ (CDT) sagte in einem Interview mit CNN: “It’s really not for the President to say that a deal can go through or a deal can’t go through, or that a company must pay a ransom to the United States government. That’s very unusual. It’s wrong.“[2]  Mittlerweile hat ein US-amerikanisches Gericht die Restriktionen gegen TikTok teilweise wieder aufgehoben.

Die wechselseitigen Vorwürfe haben zu zwei diametral entgegenstehenden politischen Projekten – dem amerikanischen „Clean-Network“-Programm vom August 2020 und der chinesischen „Global Initiative on Data Security“ vom September 2020 – geführt.

Amerikanische „Clean Network“-Initiative, 3. August 2020

Am 3. August 2020 veröffentliche das US-amerikanische Außenministerium die Eckpunkte des „Clean-Network“-Programms, mit dem das globale Internet vom chinesischen Einfluss gereinigt werden soll[3]. Das Programm soll amerikanische Bürger und Unternehmen vor dem schädlichen Einfluss der kommunistischen Partei Chinas schützen. Das Programm umfasst fünf Bereiche, in denen keine chinesischen Unternehmen, die mit der KP Chinas in Zusammenhang gebracht werden, tätig sein sollen:

  1. Clean Carrier: To ensure untrusted People’s Republic of China (PRC) carriers are not connected with U.S. telecommunications networks. Such companies pose a danger to U.S. national security and should not provide international telecommunications services to and from the United States.
  2. Clean Store: To remove untrusted applications from U.S. mobile app stores. PRC apps threaten our privacy, proliferate viruses, and spread propaganda and disinformation. American’s most sensitive personal and business information must be protected on their mobile phones from exploitation and theft for the CCP’s benefit.
  3. Clean Apps: To prevent untrusted PRC smartphone manufacturers from pre-installing –or otherwise making available for download – trusted apps on their apps store. Huawei, an arm of the PRC surveillance state, is trading on the innovations and reputations of leading U.S. and foreign companies. These companies should remove their apps from Huawei’s app store to ensure they are not partnering with a human rights abuser.
  4. Clean Cloud: To prevent U.S. citizens’ most sensitive personal information and our businesses’ most valuable intellectual property, including COVID-19 vaccine research, from being stored and processed on cloud-based systems accessible to our foreign adversaries through companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent.
  5. Clean Cable: To ensure the undersea cables connecting our country to the global internet are not subverted for intelligence gathering by the PRC at hyper scale. We will also work with foreign partners to ensure that undersea cables around the world aren’t similarly subject to compromise

Notwendig sei, so Pompeo in einem Statement bei der Präsentation des Programms, der Bau einer „digitalen Festung“, um die USA vor China zu schützen (Building a Clean fortress around our citizens’ data will ensure all of our nations’ security). Die von Pompeo verwendete Sprache „Clean Fortress“ erinnert an Formulierungen vom „Eisernen Vorhang“ die der ehemalige britischen Premierminister Winston Churchill in seiner Rede am 5. März 1946 in Fulton verwendete und die als Beginn des 43 Jahre dauernden „kalten Krieges“ zwischen den USA und der Sowjetunion gilt[4].

Chinesische „Global Initiative on Data Security“, 6. September 2020

Am 8. September 2020, im Rahmen des chinesischen IGF, präsentierte der Außenminister Chinas, Wang Yi, eine „Global Initiative on Data Security“, mit der das Prinzip der staatlichen Cybersouveränität im Umgang mit Daten gestärkt werden soll.  Wang ruft zu einem „ausbalancierten Herangehen“ auf, das Fragen von „technischem Fortschritt, wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung und nationaler Sicherheit“ gleichermaßen ins Blickfeld nimmt. Wang setzt sich für eine Stärkung des Multilateralismus ein. Er hebt hervor, dass Staaten einerseits ein „offenes, faires und diskriminierungsfreies Umfeld für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit“ schaffen sollen, gleichzeitig aber auch Verantwortung tragen für „nationale Sicherheit, öffentliche Ordnung, ökonomische Sicherheit und soziale Stabilität.“ Wang nennt insgesamt acht Punkte für eine globale Gewährleistung von Datensicherheit und lädt andere Regierungen sowie private Unternehmen ein, diese Bereiche in bi- oder multilateralen Abkommen zu fixieren:

  1. States should handle data security in a comprehensive, objective and evidence-based manner, and maintain an open, secure and stable supply chain of global ICT products and services.
  2. States should stand against ICT activities that impair or steal important data of other States' critical infrastructure, or use the data to conduct activities that undermine other States' national security and public interests.
  3. States should take actions to prevent and put an end to activities that jeopardize personal information through the use of ICTs, and oppose mass surveillance against other States and unauthorized collection of personal information of other States with ICTs as a tool.
  4. States should encourage companies to abide by laws and regulations of the State where they operate. States should not request domestic companies to store data generated and obtained overseas in their own territory.
  5. States should respect the sovereignty, jurisdiction and governance of data of other States, and shall not obtain data located in other States through companies or individuals without other States' permission.
  6. Should States need to obtain overseas data out of law enforcement requirement such as combating crimes, they should do it through judicial assistance or other relevant multilateral and bilateral agreements. Any bilateral data access agreement between two States should not infringe upon the judicial sovereignty and data security of a third State.
  7. ICT products and services providers should not install backdoors in their products and services to illegally obtain users' data, control or manipulate users' systems and devices.
  8. ICT companies should not seek illegitimate interests by taking advantage of users' dependence on their products, nor force users to upgrade their systems and devices. Products providers should make a commitment to notifying their cooperation partners and users of serious vulnerabilities in their products in a timely fashion and offering remedies[5].

Die beiden Außenminister Mike Pompeo und Wang Yi bereisten im August 2020 Europa und warben für ihre konträren Initiativen. Pompeo reiste nach Slowenien, Österreich, Tschechien und Polen. Wang reiste nach Italien, Norwegen, die Niederlande, Frankreich und Deutschland. Pompeo hielt am 5. August 2020 in Prag eine Grundsatzrede. Wang hielt am 30. August 2020 in Paris eine Grundsatzrede.

Europareise und Grundsatzrede von US-Außenminister Mike Pompeo, August 2020

Mike Pompeo argumentierte bei seiner Europareise, dass die Europäer die Wahl zwischen „vertrauenswürdigen“ und „nicht-vertrauenswürdigen“ Partnern hätten. Er drohte mit Konsequenzen für den Fall, dass die Europäer Huawei am Ausbau ihrer 5G-Netze beteiligen. In Slowenien wurde ein „Joint Memorandum“ zu 5G unterschrieben. Ein ähnliches Dokument hatten die USA im Mai 2019 mit Tschechien am Rande einer 5G-Sicherheitskonferenz, bei der die „Prague Proposals“ verabschiedet wurden, unterzeichnet[6]. Pompeo bedauerte bei seiner Rede in Prag, dass eine zweite 5G-Sicherheitskonferenz wegen der Pandemie verschoben werden musste und drückte die Hoffnung aus, 2021 eine solche Konferenz durchzuführen, die das „Clean-Network-Projekt“ unterstützt. In seiner Prager Rede griff er die kommunistische Partei Chinas an, die Lügen verbreiten und Freiheiten einschränken würde. Huawei würde mit der chinesischen Geheimpolizei zusammenarbeiten. China sei wie die Sowjetunion während des kalten Krieges geleitet von einer „marxistisch-leninistischen Ideologie“. Die Situation heute sei aber komplexer und nicht einfach ein „kalter Krieg 2.0“, da die Weltwirtschaft enger miteinander verzahnt sei als sie es in den 1970er- und 1980er-Jahren gewesen war. Es gelte daher, die globalen Lieferketten im Bereich der Internettechnologie – Hard- wie Software – so zu reorganisieren und zu säubern, dass chinesische Unternehmen keinen Zugriff mehr auf die Daten von Bürgern aus demokratischen Staaten haben[7].

Europasreise und Grundsatzrede vom chinesischen Außenminister Wang Yi, August 2020

Wang Yi versuchte bei seiner Europareise die Bedenken gegen chinesische Internet-Unternehmen zu zerstreuen. Huawei entwickle neue Transparenzverfahren, die den europäischen Sicherheitsstandards entsprächen. TikTok werde sich mit rechtsstaatlichen Mitteln gegen die Beschränkungen in den USA zur Wehr setzen. Die globalen Internet-Probleme könnten nur durch Multilateralismus gelöst werden. Unilateralismus und „Cyberbullying“ würden das notwendige Vertrauen in einen nur global funktionierenden Cyberspace untergraben. Ein sogenanntes „De-Coupling“, d.h. das Auf- oder Unterbrechen von globalen Lieferketten, würde wirtschaftliche Nachteile für alle Beteiligten bringen. Europäer würden damit die lukrativen Möglichkeiten des chinesischen Marktes einbüßen. Wang warb für eine stärkere europäische Beteiligung an den Projekten der „digitalen Seidenstraße“. Bei seiner Pariser Rede am französischen Institut für internationale Beziehungen am 30. August 2020 bot Wang der Europäischen Union eine umfassende gleichberechtigte digitale Zusammenarbeit an:

  1. We need to resolutely safeguard peace and development and oppose global divisions. China firmly opposes any schemes to create a new Cold War, and will not allow any force to deny the right of the Chinese people and people around the world to pursue development and a better life. The Chinese side hopes to join hands with Europe to send a strong message of our times, a message for solidarity and against division, for progress and against regression, for peace and development and against conflict or confrontation.
  2. We need to firmly uphold multilateralism and oppose unilateral acts of bullying. No matter how the international landscape may evolve, China will always stand firmly for multilateralism, and advocate extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in global governance. China regards the European Union as a major force for a multi-polar world. We are prepared to work with the EU to uphold the effectiveness and authority of the multilateral system, promote fairness and justice and maintain the international order.
  3. We need to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation and oppose seclusion and decoupling. With China deeply interconnected with the world, decoupling from China means decoupling from development opportunities and from the most dynamic market. As two major economies in the world, China and Europe must stay committed to free trade, safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains, and play a key role in promoting development and prosperity in the post-COVID-19 world.
  4. We need to join hands to tackle global challenges and oppose the beggar-thy-neighbor approach. China and Europe need to set an example of advancing global governance by jointly strengthening the UN's coordinating role in international affairs. We need to reject the practices of putting one's own country first at the expense of others. We need to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind[8].  

Die amerikanisch-chinesische Auseinandersetzung im Bereich von Digital- und Cyberpolitik ist nicht neu. Bislang erstreckte sie sich jedoch weitgehend auf einen diplomatischen Schlagabtausch bei internationalen zwischenstaatlichen Konferenzen im Rahmen der ITU, der UNESCO oder in der UN-Vollversammlung, sowie auf Lobbyarbeit bei den sogenannten „Swingstaaten“ in Südostasien und vor allem in Afrika, denen man ökonomisch lukrative Angebote machte, um entweder amerikanische Internet-Technologie und die darauf laufenden Dienste zu kaufen oder sich der chinesischen „digitalen Seidenstraße“ anzuschließen. Zunehmend aber wird Europa, und hier insbesondere die Europäische Union, zum Schauplatz des amerikanisch-chinesischen digitalen Kräftemessens. Eine weitere Zuspitzung des Konflikts zwischen den beiden Cyber-Supermächten bringt die EU in eine schwierige geopolitische Lage und trägt das Risiko einer Spaltung des Internets in sich.

Mehr zum Thema
Q3/2020
  1. [1] Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok, Washington, 6. August 2020, „I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that additional steps must be taken to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain). Specifically, the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok. TikTok, a video-sharing mobile application owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., has reportedly been downloaded over 175 million times in the United States and over one billion times globally. TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage. TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This mobile application may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. These risks are real. The Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, and the United States Armed Forces have already banned the use of TikTok on Federal Government phones. The Government of India recently banned the use of TikTok and other Chinese mobile applications throughout the country; in a statement, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asserted that they were “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.” American companies and organizations have begun banning TikTok on their devices. The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security. Accordingly, I hereby order: Section 1. (a) The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Zìjié Tiàodòng), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.” In: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/; siehe auch Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat, 6. August 2020, in: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-wechat/
  2. [2] Rishi Iyengar, Trump's demand that the US get a cut of TikTok's sale could set a dangerous precedent, CNN Business, 5. August 2020, in: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/05/tech/tiktok-trump-treasury-microsoft/index.html
  3. [3] Michael R. Pompeo, Announcing the Expansion of the Clean Network to Safeguard America’s Assets, Press Statement, Washington, 5. August 2020: „The Clean Network program is the Trump Administration’s comprehensive approach to guarding our citizens’ privacy and our companies’ most sensitive information from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Today, I am announcing the launch of five new lines of effort to protect America’s critical telecommunications and technology infrastructure. These programs are rooted in internationally accepted digital trust standards and built upon the 5G Clean Path initiative, announced on April 29, 2020, to secure data traveling on 5G networks into U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas and within the United States. The five new lines of effort for the Clean Network are as follows: 1. Clean Carrier: To ensure untrusted People’s Republic of China (PRC) carriers are not connected with U.S. telecommunications networks. Such companies pose a danger to U.S. national security and should not provide international telecommunications services to and from the United States. 2. Clean Store: To remove untrusted applications from U.S. mobile app stores. PRC apps threaten our privacy, proliferate viruses, and spread propaganda and disinformation. American’s most sensitive personal and business information must be protected on their mobile phones from exploitation and theft for the CCP’s benefit. 3. Clean Apps: To prevent untrusted PRC smartphone manufacturers from pre-installing – or otherwise making available for download – trusted apps on their apps store. Huawei, an arm of the PRC surveillance state, is trading on the innovations and reputations of leading U.S. and foreign companies. These companies should remove their apps from Huawei’s app store to ensure they are not partnering with a human rights abuser. 4. Clean Cloud: To prevent U.S. citizens’ most sensitive personal information and our businesses’ most valuable intellectual property, including COVID-19 vaccine research, from being stored and processed on cloud-based systems accessible to our foreign adversaries through companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent. 5. Clean Cable: To ensure the undersea cables connecting our country to the global internet are not subverted for intelligence gathering by the PRC at hyper scale. We will also work with foreign partners to ensure that undersea cables around the world aren’t similarly subject to compromise. Momentum for the Clean Network program is growing. More than thirty countries and territories are now Clean Countries, and many of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies are Clean Telcos. All have committed to exclusively using trusted vendors in their Clean Networks. The United States calls on our allies and partners in government and industry around the world to join the growing tide to secure our data from the CCP’s surveillance state and other malign entities. Building a Clean fortress around our citizens’ data will ensure all of our nations’ security.” In: https://www.state.gov/announcing-the-expansion-of-the-clean-network-to-safeguard-americas-assets/
  4. [4] Winston Churchill, The Sinews of Peace (‘Iron Curtain Speech’), Fulton, 5. März 1946: „A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organisation intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytising tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin. There is deep sympathy and goodwill in Britain - and I doubt not here also - towards the peoples of all the Russias and a resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships. We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above all, we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.” In: https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/
  5. [5] Wang Yi, Global Initiative on Data Security, Beijing, 8. September 2020: „The phenomenal development of information technology revolution and digital economy is transforming the way of production and life, exerting far-reaching influence over social and economic development of States, global governance system and human civilization. The explosive growth and aggregation of data, as a key element of digital technology, has played a crucial role in facilitating innovative development and reshaping people's lives, bearing on security and economic and social development of States. In the context of closer global cooperation and new development of international division of labor, maintaining supply chain security of ICT products and services has never become more important for boosting users' confidence, ensuring data security and promoting digital economy. We call on all States to put equal emphasis on development and security, and take a balanced approach to technological progress, economic development and protection of national security and public interests. We reaffirm that States should foster an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for mutual benefit, win-win outcomes and common development. At the same time, States have the responsibility and right to ensure the security of important data and personal information bearing on their national security, public security, economic security and social stability. We welcome governments, international organizations, ICT companies, technology communities, civil organizations, individuals and all other actors to make concerted efforts to promote data security under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. We underscore that all parties should step up dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, and join hands to forge a community with a shared future in cyberspace featuring peace, security, openness, cooperation and order. … We call on all States to support this initiative, and confirm the aforementioned commitments through bilateral, regional and international agreements. We also welcome global ICT companies to support this initiative.“ In: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1812951.shtml
  6. [6] Prague 5G Security Conference announced series of recommendations: The Prague Proposals, 3. Mai 2019, in: https://www.vlada.cz/en/media-centrum/aktualne/prague-5g-security-conference-announced-series-of-recommendations-the-prague-proposals-173422/
  7. [7] Michael R. Pompeo, Securing Freedom in the Heart of Europe, Wallenstein Palace, Prag, Tschechische Republik, 12. August 2020: „Today an even greater threat is the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party and its campaigns of coercion and control. In your country alone, we see influence campaigns against your politicians and your security forces; we see the theft of industrial data that you have created through your innovation and creativity; we see the use of economic levels to stifle freedom itself. It’s not tanks and guns. It’s very different from that. The CCP initiates retaliation against innocent parties when crossed. It infamously canceled the PFK Philharmonia’s trip to Beijing for something as simple as the mayor’s efforts to deepen ties with Taiwan. Shanghai cancelled its cooperation with Prague after this city signed a sister-city agreement with Taipei. Look, you all see this. The CCP leverages economic power to coerce countries. Recall that the Chinese embassy in Prague sent a letter to your former senate president, who had hoped to visit Taiwan. Your free press did amazing work and reported on this strong-arming. The letter read as follows. It said, quote, “Czech enterprises with economic interests in China will have to pay,” end of quote. This is deeply inconsistent with each of our values. The CCP lies, and makes those who tell the truth disappear. The virulent pandemic that came from Wuhan spread so widely, and caused so much damage, because the CCP covered it up. Then there’s the tragedy that has befallen Hong Kong and the premature denial of freedom to those people. You see it in far-off places and their attempts to dominate the South China Sea. You see it in the detention of one million Uyghur Muslims living in internment camps in Xinjiang. This is the human rights stain of the century, sustained by companies like Huawei, using technology that secret police could only have dreamed of in times gone by. Now, it might be easy to dismiss the China challenge as just a passing irritant, but I hope you all know it is not so. The regime has a Marxist-Leninist core no less than the Soviet Union did, and indeed, perhaps more so. The party has always put itself first. Its actions flow from its ideology. And it’s paranoid about free societies like ours. What’s happening now isn’t Cold War 2.0. The challenge of resisting the CCP threat is in some ways much more difficult. That’s because the CCP is already enmeshed in our economies, in our politics, in our societies in ways the Soviet Union never was. And Beijing is not likely to change course in the near future, although one lives in hope.“ In: https://www.state.gov/securing-freedom-in-the-heart-of-europe/
  8. [8] Wang Yi Delivers a Speech at the French Institute of International Relations, Paris, 30. August 2020: „China and Europe should strengthen solidarity and cooperation. We should press the "restart button" to resume dialogue and cooperation across the board and act as twin engines of the world economy, to inject strong impetus to international solidarity and cooperation. To that end, I propose that we develop our partnership in the following four areas. First, we need to build an anti-COVID-19 partnership. China and the EU should strengthen cooperation on the development and production of vaccines, medicines and testing kits and support the WHO and other international institutions in playing their roles. The Chinese side is willing to speed up the construction of a "fast lane" that facilitates personnel exchanges and a "green channel" for the exchange of goods, so as to help the EU's economic recovery. Second, we need to enhance our investment partnership. China and the EU should follow the principles of flexibility, pragmatism and meeting each other halfway, conclude a comprehensive, balanced and high-standard agreement within this year, conduct a joint feasibility study at an early date to kick-start the FTA process, and conclude the China-EU 2025 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation as early as possible to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Third, we need to foster a green and digital partnership. China and the EU are highly complementary in green development and digital field, and enjoy a broad cooperation prospect. The two sides should deepen cooperation in such areas as environmental technology, circular economy, clean energy, and sustainable finance. We should strengthen cooperation in areas like information and communications technology, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, big data, and cloud computing to create new growth areas of China-EU cooperation. Fourth, we need to deepen our international partnership. China and the EU should further strengthen dialogue and cooperation on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development, and work together to tackle global challenges. We should also jointly uphold the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian Nuclear Issue, promote political settlement of regional and international hotspot issues, strengthen third-party cooperation with Africa, and contribute more to a safer and more sustainable world.“ In: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1811319.shtml