Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a global treaty on fighting Internet terrorism, amid the growing threat on cyberspace from Middle Eastern terror groups.

He also proposed joint international efforts to combat cybercrimes like drug trafficking, money laundering and gambling, and to formulate “widely accepted” guidelines to oppose espionage, hacking and an “arms race” in cyberspace.

Mr Xi made the proposals in a speech yesterday that laid out his vision on cyberspace governance when he opened the 2nd World Internet Conference in coastal Zhejiang province’s Wuzhen town.

… On Mr Xi’s call to the international community to combat Internet terrorism, which refers to attacks on a country’s networks, computer systems and telecommunications infrastructure, analyst Stefanie Kam of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) said sustained efforts were needed to thwart cyber terrorist attacks.

This was particularly as risks of such attacks have increased, given the exploitation of cyberspace by groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, said the associate research fellow at the RSIS‘ International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.