China has elevated Internet security to top priority as it created a group that would lead and coordinate the safety of its cyber world.

President Xi Jinping leads the high level central leading group tasked to ensure Internet safety and provide informatization work among different sectors.

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In a report released during the annual session of China's top legislature, it enumerated China's goals: "promote the healthy development of Internet finance, implement China's broadband strategy and safeguard cyber security."

The move to create a high level group came on the heels of a media revelation in June 2013 that the US  was using a tapping program code-named PRISM for surveillance both at home and abroad.

The revelation sent the world into panic mode, realizing how fragile Internet security could be. .

According to Wang Yukai, member of the Advisory Committee for State Information, the disclosure also exposed latent security risks in China's cyber world.

"Security is actually a technological competition in which China, lacking core technology, has lagged behind due to excessive dependence on overseas equipment and information systems," Wang said. "Web security has been elevated to the national level."

Wang stressed that the lax security not only affects the government but also the fields of finance, military activities, industries and people's daily lives.

Huai Jinpeng, an academician of China Academy of Sciences, said that the widespread use of the Internet has struck a chord among Chinese Internet users and has brought the security issue closer to the public.