China brings in new regulations on computer networks to safeguard national security

In China, new measures to control computer networks linked to the Internet have come into force.

The deputy minister for public security Zhu Entaosaid the aim was to safeguard national security and social stability.

The new rules stipulate that the Internet should not be used to promote separatism or defame the government.

The BBC correspondent in Beijing says their introduction comesat a time when most of China's two-hundred-fifty-thousand subscribers are allowed easy access to foreign sources including those of the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama.He says Internet providers will now have to take greater responsibility for the activities of their clients.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service