The number of Chinese netizens had risen to 450 million by the end of November, up 20.3 percent year on year, Wang Chen, head of China's State Council Information Office, said Thursday.

Around 33.9 percent of the Chinese population has gone online, a ratio above the world average of 30 percent, Wang said at a press conference.

The Internet has grown in popularity since 1994, when China connected to the Internet, Wang said, adding that China has the biggest online population in the world.

The number of Chinese netizens was 420 million at the end of June, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Praising the role of the Internet in boosting China's development, Wang also admitted that China, like the rest of the world, is haunted by online pornography, hacking, viruses and online fraud.

China will improve its policies to facilitate the development of the Internet and related supervision, Wang said.

Greater efforts will be made to fight online crime, safeguard online security, protect legal rights of Chinese citizens, and create a fair and competition-friendly market for China's Internet industry, he said.

Wang said China hopes to work with other countries to safeguard online security and boost Internet development and supervision.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2010)