The number of websites created by Chinese government agencies has increased 20 times since May 1998.

China has been expecting the cyberspace business to link the government to money-savvy surfers and other Internet sites. And by the end of last year, 68 State-level government departments had put their names on-line. Many of them also set up special Internet lines for fast connection, according to the Government On-line Project Service Center (GOPSC).

The English language newspaper said that 60 percent of State-level departments have set up sites via China's main Internet service provider, 163/169.com, under the project in 1999, which doubled that of the previous year. This year, 80 percent of all government agencies, both local and national, are expected to have sites.

These websites usually feature information from official introductions to details of tax payments and project bids. They also provides State and local laws and regulations.

Huang Haijia, deputy director of GOPSC, said that the expanse of Chinese-language sites should spawn e-commerce, a fashionable term for many domestic companies.

The number of websites in China totaled 15,153 at the end of last December, compared to 9,906 at the end of June, indicated statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center.