"Due to historical and technical reasons, 90 percent of the information available on Internet is in English and the overwhelming majority of it generated from developed countries, whereas developing countries are mostly information receivers. As information flows across borders and developing countries are absorbing advanced technological and cultural information, their cultural traditions, moral standards and values have been severely challenged," Wu said.

Wu is the first senior Chinese official to attend a gathering of the 55-nation body. Diplomats said his remarks reflected the official Chinese view that the Internet had to be regulated so that it could not be used as a tool by dissidents to undermine the ruling Communist Party. In response to calls that China be more open, he responded cautiously, reflecting the Party view that Beijing would not sanction anything deemed threatening to the its grip on power.

"We are of the view that as the world of the 21st century is to be a multi-polarized one, the network shall also be a one of diversified cultures. Along with the efforts being made to create a new world order, all countries shall aggressively promote the development of a diverse-cultured internet, so as to make the Internet more broadly representative and inclusive, by which the cultures of different countries and nationalities can be maintained and developed. To this end, developed and developing countries shall carry out constructive dialogue and cooperation so as to reach a consensus on the issue of cultural diversification and to encourage the propagation of rich cultures of various nationalities," he said.

China was therefore developing Chinese-language software and information resources and promoting use of databases "characteristic" of national culture. "Our purpose is to carry forward the 5,000-year glorious culture of the Chinese nation. We have stepped up the development of a digital library and a digital museum," he said.

In a much anticipated keynote address on the state of telecommunications and use of the electronic media in China, the audience that included many of the world's leading telecommunications experts and business leaders, listened in rapt silence as he presented the latest statistics on the size of the giant Chinese market.

Wu said China now had 179 million fixed-line telephone subscribers and 145 million mobile telephone users. "Our mobile and fixed telephone networks are now the first and second largest in the world respectively. The length of optical cable in China is over 1.5 million kilometers. Long distance transmission, local exchanges and mobile communication have been digitized, and data and multimedia communication networks have covered the whole country. The bandwidth of Internet transmission is increasing exponentially and the Internet users are over 30 million."

He said there had been a lapse of 110 years from 1882 when telephone was first introduced into China to 1992 when the number of subscribers reached 10 million. China, he said was currently implementing its 10th five-year plan. By the year 2005, he said the service turnover in the communications industry was forecast to reach RMB 1,000 billion yuan ($120.9 billion) and the number of subscribers to fixed and mobile telephone systems to reach 500 million. Wu added that data, multimedia communications and Internet users would number over 200 million, with 15 out of every 100 people in China having access to the Internet.

One of the speakers, who listened to Wu remarks, was Bill Keever, Vodafone's chief executive in Asia. In remarks reflecting views held by many of the 700 company representatives at the convention, Keever said that Vodafone had stayed away from China for a long time because of "investment security concerns". Although its links to the Chinese market were mainly through Hong Kong, he said China had to be more open in announcing the way it awards contracts. Keever added: "The Chinese government must reduce uncertainty through more open economic policies."

In his speech, which lasted over an hour, Wu responded by insisting that China had also separated government from businesses, broken up monopolies, and introduced competition. Now, he said, the reforms were going deeper. China would follow through its commitments to World Trade Organization which it joined last year after 15 years of tough negotiations. "The Chinese government has issued for implementation administrative methods governing foreign investment in telecommunications sector. Taken as a whole, market competition is conducive to optimization and consolidation of resources and network convergence. As long as it is conducted in an orderly way and on a fair basis, competition will effectively promote development, " he said.

But in a father note of caution, the Chinese official added: " Network and information safety cannot be overemphasized, as it has a bearing on the sovereignty and economic security of a nation. Any improper handling of the relations will hamper the overall economic development. The fact that the declining of information and communication industry is the major cause of economic recession in many countries itself is quite revealing. So, to encourage competition does not mean to do away with government regulation and the market must be opened up in a regulated and orderly way."

Wu said the more scientific and predictable a government regulation, the more effective and orderly the competition would be. " It is believed mistakenly that government regulation is no longer necessary once the telecom market is liberalized. However, the practices of many countries have shown that to give up regulation is not beneficial to the healthy growth of information and telecom market," he said. "There have been too many of such cases. We have to draw lessons from it. Not long ago, China issued Regulations on Telecommunications and established telecommunications regulatory bodies. The regulatory regime is gradually taking shape. We will strive to improve the overall strength of information and communications industry."