Washington, Sep 24 (IANS): Beijing advocates the building of a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyber space, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Speaking at a China-US internet forum held at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Xi noted that with the rapid development of information technology, the internet plays an increasingly important role in the peace and development of individual countries and the world.

Therefore, he pointed out, how to govern and make better use of the cyber space has become a big question all countries care about and are studying, Xinhua news agency reported.

China advocates the building of a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyber space and maintains that every country should institute its own internet policy in line with its own national conditions, Xi said.

Noting that both China and the US are major countries in the internet sphere, where they have important common interests and room for cooperation, he suggested that the two countries carry out constructive talks on cyber issues on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

In doing so, he added, the two sides can create a new bright spot in bilateral cooperation and enable the cyber space to bring more benefits to the two nations and the people across the world.