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)

互联网在中国的普及程度越来越高，截止今年6月底，我国的网民数量达到1.23亿，仅次于美国，位居世界第二。 据信息产业部副部长蒋耀平周四介绍，互联网的迅速发展成为中国信息通讯业的一大亮点。 蒋部长在2006中国互联网大会上说，我国网民的不断增加推动了我国互联网相关技术的迅速发展。 蒋部长介绍，目前，我国宽带用户达到7700万，国内网站达到78.8万。 虽然我国网民数位居世界第二，但我国人口总数达13亿，互联网的渗透率还是相对较低。 蒋部长说，互联网在促进中国经济发展和提高人民生活水平方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。 他还说，中国正在加大互联网的监管力度。随着互联网的使用日益广泛，信息产业部已将工作重点从保证信息和网络安全转移到保护知识产权、消费者权益和隐私以及商业秘密上来。 他说，信息产业部已出台了《互联网安全和应急预案》等一系列相关的法律法规。 (英语点津姗姗编辑)