China will pay dearly if it does not act now to frame a law on Internet, as some profit-driven websites keep on carrying pornographic and "lewd" materials, said a political advisor on Wednesday.
"The lewd and violent content of Internet will deeply affect the moral values of adolescents," said Chen Daoming, member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Chen, a well known actor, said only government circulars are far from enough on Internet administration, and the government should turn to a law.
"If we don't take actions, huge price will be paid in the coming 10 to 20 years, and there will be no instant remedy for it," said Chen.
He also said some blog articles are full of rumors, but without the regulation of the law, websites that carry those rumors can easily evade punishment by simply declaring "the article does not represent the viewpoint of this website."
"The law should be carefully framed, the more detailed the better," he said on the sidelines of the annual session of the country's top advisory body.
China has shut down nearly 2,000 websites that contain pornographic materials since the beginning of the year, when the authorities launched an Internet cleansing campaign.
(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)