People surf the internet in Jinan, in eastern China's Shandong province. The Chinese government forecasts the country will have a total of 120 million Internet users by the end of 2005. [AFP]

    BEIJING, Mar. 2 -- The Chinese government forecasts the country will have a total of 120 million Internet users by the end of 2005.

    The figure, reported Monday by the Xinhua state news agency, would mark growth of nearly 28 percent from 94 million at the end of 2004 and consolidate China's position as the second largest market in the world after the United States.

    The Ministry of Information Industry, which made the prediction, seems slightly more conservative than some non-government analysts.

    Independent forecaster Analysys International said earlier this year it expected the total number of Internet users in China to reach 134 million by late 2005.

    China's online population has grown rapidly in recent years from just 620,000 in 1997.

(Source: China Daily/Agencies)