Chinese use computers at an Internet cafe in Hefei, eastern China's Anhui province.             The Internet is becoming more and more popular in China, where 123 million users were counted by the end of June, second in the world only to the United States. The fast growth of Internet has become a spotlight in China's information and communications industries, said Vice Minister of Ministry of Information Industry Jiang Yaoping on Thursday. Jiang told a national meeting on Internet that the country's increasing netizens prompted the rapid development of Internet related technologies in China. The number of broadband users reached 77 million and there are currently 788,000 websites in the country, according to Jiang. Despite its second place in the world list, Internet penetration is actually relatively weak per capita in the country of 1.3 billion people. Jiang said Internet has played an increasingly important role in promoting China's economic development and improving people's life quality. Meanwhile, he said China is stepping up efforts in supervising the Internet. With the wide use of Internet in the country, his ministry has already shifted focus from ensuring information and network safety to protecting intellectual property rights, consumers' rights and privacy and business secrets. A series of rules and regulations have been worked out in this regard, including the Internet Safety Emergency Plan, he noted.  (Agencies)

互聯網在中國的普及程度越來越高，截止今年6月底，我國的網民數量達到1.23億，僅次于美國，位居世界第二。 據信息產業部副部長蔣耀平周四介紹，互聯網的迅速發展成為中國信息通訊業的一大亮點。 蔣部長在2006中國互聯網大會上說，我國網民的不斷增加推動了我國互聯網相關技術的迅速發展。 蔣部長介紹，目前，我國寬帶用戶達到7700萬，國內網站達到78.8萬。 雖然我國網民數位居世界第二，但我國人口總數達13億，互聯網的滲透率還是相對較低。 蔣部長說，互聯網在促進中國經濟發展和提高人民生活水平方面發揮著越來越重要的作用。 他還說，中國正在加大互聯網的監管力度。隨著互聯網的使用日益廣泛，信息產業部已將工作重點從保證信息和網絡安全轉移到保護知識產權、消費者權益和隱私以及商業秘密上來。 他說，信息產業部已出臺了《互聯網安全和應急預案》等一系列相關的法律法規。 (英語點津姍姍編輯)