BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A symposium marking the 10th anniversary of Xinhuanet.com, which is affiliated to Xinhua News Agency, was held here Wednesday.

As one of the earliest news websites founded by mainstream media in China, Xinhuanet.com has contributed to the development of Internet culture especially news websites in China, said Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau in a letter of congratulation.

He hopes that Xinhuanet.com will continue to provide good service to the public, expand its influence both at home and overseas, and create a sound environment of public opinions for the reform and opening up of China and the modernization drive.

The website has attracted domestic and overseas readers with its popular web columns such as "Xinhua headlines", "Xinhua Interviews", and "Internet live broadcast", and has accumulated a wealth of experience in Internet news coverage, said Liu Yunshan, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee at the symposium.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee said that the CPC 17th National Congress has put forward new tasks for news reporting in China and has named the key news websites as the major platforms for the publicity of the Party and the country's guidelines and policies.

He urged Xinhuanet.com to forge ahead and strive to develop itself into a website with global influence.

President of Xinhua News Agency Tian Congming said that Xinhua and its website will follow the spirit of the CPC 17th National Congress, give full play to its capacity, and develop Xinhuanet.com into a more powerful, comprehensive Internet media platform.

Xinhuanet.com was founded on Nov. 7, 1997. It has web pages in six languages including Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic and many kinds of Internet services including photographs, graphics, audio and video, text messages and mobile news. The website handles more than 12,000 news items, displayed on the site and dispatched to readers in all parts of the world by SMS, everyday.