Chinese President Hu Jintao talked to Internet users Friday morning via a major news portal, the first time that the nation's leader has gone online to chat with the public.

Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, was speaking through a forum of people.com.cn, the news portal of the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the CPC.

At the Qiangguo Forum, the public started posting questions for Hu minutes after the news that he would talk was released.

The Internet is a major channel for public opinion, Hu said during the chat.

China had the world's most net users with 221 million as of February, outnumbering that of the United States.

"I am squeezing in time to go on-line, though I cannot surf the web every day due to my busy workload," Hu said in answer to a question.

The Qiangguo Forum was a "must-visit" website, Hu said.

"I log on to view domestic and foreign news, to learn what interests people on the Internet and to solicit their advice and opinions about the work of our government and Party," said Hu in response to posts about his online life.

"I am very much concerned about some of the problems and opinions raised," he said in the 20-minute conversation. "We must listen to the people and lean on their wisdom to do a good job."

The Qiangguo Forum originates from a virtual reality community launched by www.people.com.cn to lodge protests against the US-led NATO forces bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 9, 1999.

It was renamed on June 19 to the Qiangguo Forum, which has the literal meaning of "powering the nation". It has more than 23,000 daily postings and the highest simultaneous webpage visits exceeded 1.4 million.

(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2008)