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, state media said Thursday. The number of broadband users reached 77 million and there are currently 788,000 websites in the country, Jiang Yaoping from the information ministry was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
There were no comparative earlier figures available.
Despite its second place in the world list, Internet penetration is actually relatively weak per capita in the country of 1.3 billion people.
While the communist government recognises the Internet as a formidable tool for China's economic development, it also exercises strict controls in order to ensure its political control.
According to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), out of the 58 so-called cyberdissidents behind bars around the world, 50 of them are in China.
Source: Agence France-Presse
