China fears the net exposes people to dissident groups
The call by the Communist Party comes in the wake of a Chinese police shutdown of a pro-democracy website run by a group of dissidents within the country.
"Enemy forces at home and abroad are sparing no effort to use this battle front to infiltrate us," the Party said in a commentary in its newspaper the People's Daily.
China, it said, had to "work hard" to seize online opportunities.
Many Chinese media organisations have set up websites, including the Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily.
But with closely controlled content, they face tough competition from non-official sites.
'Superstitious and pornographic'
The Communist Party commentary said the world wide web had made "political thought work" more efficient but had brought in unwelcome ideas.
"[The internet] has advanced, healthy and beneficial information, [but also] much reactionary, superstitious and pornographic content," it said.
China is keen to capitalise on the internet's economic and propaganda potential.
But it is nervous that the internet will expose Chinese people to anti-government information.
There has been an explosive growth of the internet in China, with the number of users doubling every six months to nearly 15 million in June.
Net police
Earlier this week the government expressed confidence in its ability to police the internet for subversive or pornographic content.
Local media announced an internet police force would be set up central Anhui province, to be followed by similar forces in 20 other provinces.
The authorities often block websites considered subversive or undersirable, including those of western media organisations, human rights groups and Tibetans.
Domestic sites operate considerable self-censorship.
Webmasters face jail
The New Culture Forum, described as being openly in favour of democracy, was closed down last week.
Police are still hunting for the site's operators, dissidents from Shadong Province.
The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders protested against the site's closure, warning that its webmasters were now facing heavy jail terms.
In June, China arrested a man, Huang Qi, who launched China's first human rights website.
Another man, Lin Hai, was jailed last year for providing information to a US-based dissident website.