The Chinese government has vowed tougher punishment for local website operators which publish pornography and other obscene content, as it gears up its porn crackdown.

 

The nation's ministry of public security has also promised that serious internet offenders will be “severely punish[ed],” the Telegraph said. 

 

The ministry announced it had arrested over 5,000 people over internet porn offenses in 2009, and shut down over 9,000 websites. These figures are likely to increase this year, the ministry warned.

 

The government has already tightened regulations for websites, including forcing owners to prove their identity before they may register a domain name

 

Last month, the government offered a 10,000 yuan ($1,465) reward for citizens which report Chinese domains hosting pornography.

 

The government is taking a more active approach to tackling pornography, after its attempt to require all PCs sold within China to be shipped with web filtering software Green Dam was abandoned due to public outcry.

 

China currently has over 350 million internet users, a figure which had grown at an estimated rate of 153 new users per minute during the first six months of 2009.