The Chinese government will create conditions and adopt preferential policies for the media sector to achieve development and growth through self-reform, a senior official with the State Administration of Press and Publication said in Boao Sunday.

Liu Binjie, deputy director of the administration, made the remark at a meeting on the power and responsibilities of the media during the 2003 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is being held in south China's Hainan Province.

He said the government supports the opening-up of the Chinese media and encourages the Chinese media to cooperate with foreign counterparts and to compete on the international market.

Liu said he was convinced that China would have its own nation-wide media groups in several years.

Meanwhile, China would gradually open its distribution market for publications to the outside.

Currently, China's mainland has 2,119 newspapers, 9,038 magazines, 568 publishing houses and more than 290 audio-visual producers. China also has 1,969 radio and television stations and over 150 news websites on the Internet.

Sending short messages through mobile phones has become increasingly popular in China, especially among young people.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2003)