John L Thornton, co-chair of the Board of the Brookings Institute.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The comment came after President Xi Jinping delivered a speech in a video message on the opening ceremony of the third World Internet Conference.

The third World Internet Conference is under way in Wuzhen, Tongxiang of East China's Zhejiang province, until Nov 18.

The conference, whose theme is "Innovation-driven Internet Development for the Benefit of All – Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace", is composed of forums, an expo, and a launch event in addition to the opening and closing ceremonies.

It will hold 16 forums covering 20 hot issues, such as internet economy, internet innovation, internet culture, governance in cyberspace and international cooperation on internet.

The annual event comes against the background of China's evolution into the world's second-largest economy with the world's largest base of internet users and a dynamic homegrown internet-driven industry.

The event has attracted more than 300 enterprises from across the world this year.