China's government-run newspaper People's Daily reports that a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said that China should monitor netizens' Internet activities.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao made the remarks during a news conference this week in Beijing. The paper reports the official said "other countries have also noticed the bad impact of the unhealthy information, and have tried to find a reasonable way to manage [the] Internet."

China has been under constant pressure from international groups to remove censorship on the Internet. In response, China last week released some jailed netizens, apparently with direct intervention from Hu Jintao, the nation's president.

Liu added: "Internet management benefits the Chinese people, and the government is trying to find a way to administer the Internet to promote social development."