Beijing: China has toppled the United States as the nation with most number of netizens after it registered 221 million Internet users by the end of February.

The number of online users was put at 210 million by the end of 2007, only five million less than that of the US, official Xinhua news agency said quoting the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC).

''Despite rapidly increasing Internet population, the proportion of Internet users among the total population is still lower than the global average level,'' the agency said, citing the Ministry of Industry and Information.

The proportion was 16 per cent at the end of 2007, in contrast with 19.1 per cent of the world average, the CNNIC said.

China has often come under criticism for the Internet censorship that filters out sensitive content.

The criticism has grown shriller as the Olympics neared with many insisting that Beijing was not fulfilling its commitment on freer access to the Internet ahead of the Games.

The International Olympic Committee Chief Jacques Rogge said recently in Beijing that the issue had been taken up with Chinese authorities, which had promised action.

The increasing Internet usage has also come in handy for China as millions of netizens have in recent days been putting it to full use to attack the Dalai Lama and the West and the alleged ''distorted and biased'' coverage of the Tibet unrest by the Western media.

The calls for boycott of Olympics and disruption of the torch relays have also come in for attacks on the Internet.

Source : PTI