The Internet has also been applied in governmental administration and public services, as for example in the use of electronic governance in the customs and taxation sectors. It improves administration efficiency and reduces social cost. Applied to remote education and medical treatment, it also provides new measures to share resources and embody social fairness. According to statistics, 96 percent of government departments above county level have now established websites, and there are millions of students receiving higher education on the Internet.
The Internet has penetrated people's daily life as a platform for acquiring and releasing information. There are hundreds of thousands of forums, tens of millions of blogs and hundreds of millions of instant communication users in China. Through broad application of Web 2.0 technology, information communication on the Internet has become more personalized and diverse.
During the Sichuan earthquake and the Beijing Olympics, a flood of impressive stories and photos were collected and uploaded by Internet users. The Internet has become a new platform for information sharing, for the world to know China and for China to know the world. We will therefore give additional attention to the Internet's influence on economy and society. We will boost reform in traditional industries through new information communication technology, improve government administration by driving the establishment of electronic governance, develop e-commerce to meet public demand, support the application of broadband and mobile Internet to provide more convenient services, promote socially-beneficial programs such as "barrier-free information" and "Green Surfing", and encourage ISPs to expand information resources to meet the cultural demands of users, especially the disabled and youth.
In the past 14 years, the Internet has developed under scientific regulation and administration. The authorities have worked on improving administrative measures related to laws and regulations, inspection and supervision, security of technology, and industry disciplines.
We have released Administrative Measures on Internet Domain Names in China and on Internet IP Address Records; we have implemented Administrative Regulations on Internet Bulletin Boards and on Internet E-mail Services, and we have enacted the Administrative Measure on Electronic Authentication Services based on the Electronic Signature Law of China, effectively boosting Internet trustworthiness.
We also conduct inspection and supervision in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. In collaboration with law enforcement departments we have cracked down on illegal activity including online pornography, gambling and fraud, and intellectual property right infringement. Before the Beijing Olympics, together with National Copyright Administration we strengthened the protection of online broadcasting rights and curbed IPR infringement. This aspect of our work was highly praised by the IOC.
Faced with increasing security threats online, we have issued 32 technology standards for network security, and an Internet Security Emergency Plan to establish a protection system. We have instructed the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC) to strengthen inspection on network attacks and contain viruses and hazardous code such as worms. Our inspections showed that in 2007, host computers of three million IP addresses were infected with botnet and over 60,000 Chinese websites were attacked. Many of these attacks came from abroad.
In contrast to the traditional telecom network, the openness of the Internet requires that Internet security come not only from government supervision but also from the self-discipline of the whole industry. The government has always acknowledged such self-discipline and encourages the relevant enterprises to embark on the necessary initiatives.
We are pleased to see that self-discipline has become a common theme within the industry under the advocacy of the Internet Society of China. Regulations such as the Self-discipline Pact of the Chinese Internet Industry and the Self-discipline Pact of Blog Service have been issued and implemented. In 2004 the Society set up the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center. The center has dealt with 780,000 violation reports and passed more than 140,000 files to law enforcement agencies. We have achieved remarkable results on spam management. According to statistics from SOPHOS, the rate of junk mail originating from China fell by two percent in the first quarter of 2008, and the country dropped from world No. 2 to No. 4 as the source of junk mail.
In the future, we will continue to manage and administer the Internet steadily and with an open-mind. We will further improve administrative laws and security technology, and uphold self-discipline. We hope to work together on every element involved to build an advanced, robust, and secure information network in China, creating a human network for sharing science and civilization.
We also want to cooperate with other countries, including the US, to discuss network development and management, to develop multi-level communications on legislation, inspection, technology and personnel training based on the principle of equal cooperation and mutual benefit, and to start cooperation on network security, junk mail management and IPR protection. We sincerely hope that the Internet communities in China and the United States will strengthen mutual understanding, expand joint recognition and cooperation through such regular forums, and make a real contribution to global Internet development and the prosperity of the human information society.
Wish this forum every success. Thank you.
(China.org.cn November 7, 2008)