China’s websites cautioned
"We maintain that the industry should exercise self-discipline and self-management," he told reporters at the end of parliament’s annual session.
"Websites should convey right messages and information and should refrain from misleading the general public or exerting an adverse impact on social and public order."
He told journalists this should become "the code of conduct" for the websites and their operators.
Several cases have emerged recently of Chinese citizens being jailed for their online activities, with US Internet firms becoming embroiled in the controversies after being exposed for helping the Chinese authorities.
In one example, journalist Shi Tao, who circulated a government order to suppress media commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, was jailed last year for 10 years after Yahoo handed over his e-mail records.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders ranks China 159th on a list of 167 countries in its global press freedom index.
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