BEIJING, Feb. 27 -- President Xi Jinping is heading a central Internet security and informatization leading group, according to a statement released after the first meeting of the group on Thursday.

Xi presided over the meeting, stressing that Internet security and informatization is a major strategic issue concerning a country's security and development as well as people's life and work.

"Efforts should be made to build our country into a cyber power," he said.

Premier Li Keqiang and Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, are the group's deputy heads.