An official with the Ministry of Public Security Thursday is blaming violence and pornographic on the Internet as the main cause of juvenile crimes in China.

Wu Heping, spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security, said at a press conference that preliminary statistics show that nearly 80 percent of juvenile delinquents have been lured into crime by "evil content" on the Internet.

"From the cases we cracked in recent years, we found a high proportion of young people who were found guilty of cheating, rape or robbery were using the Internet and were corrupted by online filth," Wu said.

China's security system will say it will 'purify' cyberspace according to laws and make efforts to create a healthy cyber environment, Wu said.

China has roughly 123 million Internet users, most of whom are young people.

The Ministry of Public Security, along with nine other government departments, announced last week they will launch a campaign to restrict the spread of pornography on the Internet in China.

Over the next six months, the ministries will crack down on illegal on-line activities such as distributing pornographic materials and organizing online strip shows, and purge the web of sexually-explicit images, stories, and audio and video clips.

The campaign will also target illegal on-line lotteries and contraband trade, fraud, and content that spreads rumors and is of a slanderous nature.

At the same press conference Wu also said China's police would learn from the Virginia campus shooting and take measures to tighten gun control.

"The tragedy in the US has affected many lives of young students. We feel equally sad about that but it reminds us to strengthen management over the use of guns," Wu said.

Barring those who need to carry guns on duty, people in China are banned from owning or carrying guns, Wu continued.

"China is not like the US in that the Chinese government and police always maintain tight controls over firearms, which can be easily turned into murder weapons," he said.

In the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, Cho Seung-hui, a 23-year-old student of the Republic of Korea (ROK), killed 32 people and then himself at the Virginia Tech University on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2007)