Vice director of the Information Office of China's State Council Qian Xiaoqian said?in Beijing?Monday that China's Internet market would always be open to foreign enterprises.

"The door of China's Internet market remains open, and we welcome Internet enterprises worldwide to develop their businesses in China," said Qian while addressing the opening ceremony of the fourth U.S.-China Internet Industry Forum.

Qian said that on the one hand, foreign-funded Internet companies contributed to the prosperity of China's Internet industry by introducing advanced technologies and management skills; on the other hand, the open market of China's Internet industry benefited foreign enterprises and helped them sustain numerous economies during the global financial crisis.

Also, the Chinese government will continue to improve its policies, regulations and laws and follow related WTO rules to provide a "stable, transparent and predictable" investment environment for foreign enterprises, Qian said.

"As long as foreign Internet companies comply with Chinese laws and respect Chinese traditions, they will have a bright prospect in China," Qian added.

He noted that China sincerely welcomed American enterprises to participate in China's reform and opening up, and to share in the opportunities coming from the Internet industry's development in China.

"The United States masters nearly all the core Internet technologies, while China boasts the largest netizen community in the world. In this regard, the two countries share great potential for cooperation," said Wang Chen, director of the Information Office, at an evening banquet held to serve the forum' s foreign participants.

By June 2010, China had 440 million netizens, accounting for 33 percent of its total population, said Hu Qiheng, chairwoman of the Internet Society of China, at the forum.

China and the United States have different situations and cultures, but that should not form barriers to the cooperation and bilateral exchanges in the Internet industry, Wang said, adding that he hoped the two countries could seek common ground while reserving differences.

The two-day forum, co-hosted by Microsoft Corporation and the Internet Society of China, will focus on China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation in areas such as cloud computing, cyber crimes and online intellectual property rights protection.

Over 180 officials, business people and scholars from China and the United States are expected to attend the forum, which was first launched in 2007 and had been previously held in Seattle, Shanghai and San Francisco.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats said at the forum that the theme of the meeting -- For a More Valuable and Reliable Internet -- meant that there still is much more progress to be made and that "Opportunities are limitless".

Also, the forum provided a valuable form of discourse by bringing together engineers, businessmen and policy makers in the same room and talking about the possibilities and challenges of Internet development, he said.