Chinese authorities launched a three-month nationwide campaign on Wednesday to crack down on illegal pirating on the Internet.

Internet websites based in China that are found selling pirated books, DVDs, or other publications, as well as those providing links to pirated music, software, and movies, could be blocked and shut down.

Authorities in charge of copyright protection, the police, as well as industrial and commerce officials, will conduct the campaign until the end of October, according to a statement issued by an office in charge of coordination for the nationwide operation.

The authorities will monitor websites dealing with online businesses of publications, especially those which contain online games, literature, popular TV programs, movies and music.

Selling or uploading pirated publications to the Internet related to the ongoing Shanghai World Expo and upcoming Guangzhou Asian Games will also face severe punishments, the statement said.

The National Copyright Administration (NCA) will convene a meeting of China's major mobile phone network operators to discuss and work out a self-discipline regulation to reject piracy in their online businesses.

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said in a report issued last week that the country's online population has risen to 420 million by the end of June, boosted by rising mobile phone connections.

According the report, Internet users who connect through mobile phones had become the major force driving the rise in the country's on-line population.

By the end of June, Internet users on mobile phones had reached 277 million and accounted for 65.9 percent of the total Internet users.

Mobile phones have become a new platform for people, by which one could get access to almost all Internet websites, which gives the opportunity for pirated publications to spread, said an official with the NCA.

Further, the NCA will publicize a blacklist of those websites that are found selling or providing pirated contents on its official website, www.ncac.gov.cn.

Those telecom operators who provide Internet access service to blacklisted websites will also face punishment and even criminal suits, according to the NCA.