BEIJING - The way the Chinese government manages the Internet in accordance with law is a sovereign matter and foreign courts have no jurisdiction according to international law, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Thursday.

The Chinese government's Internet management accords with international norms, and China always supports the development of the Internet and guarantees citizens' lawful freedom of speech, Jiang said at a regular news conference.

Jiang's remarks referred to a lawsuit in which eight New York residents accused China's biggest search engine Baidu.com and the Chinese government of Internet censorship on Wednesday.