MIIT boosts homegrown IT software

China has to make sure information technology is not used to undermine the country's economic development, the chief of an industry regulatory body said on Thursday.

His remarks come amid the government's increasing concerns over IT vulnerabilities in key government departments and strategically important industries, such as banking, energy and telecommunications.

"The nation's information security could come under direct threat if the software we use was infected with backdoor viruses and the like," said Miao Wei, minister of the Industry and Information Technology. "Our job is to make sure such things do not happen."