Internet tsar sees role for Asean in developing tomorrow's internet standards

China's top internet regulator has called on Asean members to help build a regional information superhighway and help evolve international technical standards for the internet.

Lu Wei, minister for the Cyberspace Administration of China, made the remarks at the opening of a two-day forum on the internet at the annual China-Asean Expo in Nanning , Guangxi .

"China sincerely hopes to join with Asean to cooperate in cyberspace, jointly building a China-Asean information port based in Guangxi," Xinhua quoted Lu as said.

The port would be an information hub for the "21st century maritime silk road" and a community of common destiny.

"Cooperation cannot exist without information sharing," Lu said, proposing that both sides hasten infrastructure construction for an information superhighway sharing financial information, disaster assessment and other information.

At the same time, Lu sounded a cautious note: "[We must ensure that] the internet serves the interests more of developing countries, but at the same time respects national territory in cyberspace and does not infringe on each country's sovereign rights in the area of information technology," Lu said.