The central government has decided to speed up the development of the information industry and focus on research of key technologies.

The State leading group for informatization - headed by Premier Zhu Rongji - held a meeting recently in Beijing to discuss ways of promoting the development of information transfer and safeguarding its safety.

Top Chinese leaders including Premier Zhu Rongji, Vice-President Hu Jintao and Vice-Premier Li Lanqing attended the meeting.

The information industry has been developing fast since the 1990s and has become one of the nation's pillar industries.

But there are still many problems that need to be solved.

The industry has paid particular attention to developing hardware, leaving software and information services lagging far behind.

This has caused the construction of networks and databases to be duplicated and created possible dangers for information security, the meeting heard.

(China Daily December 28, 2001 )