Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on officials to tolerate netizens more,  while stressing the importance of management and construction of cyberspace, a combined approach to clean cyberspace.

Officials should frequently follow online public opinion to familiarize themselves with Net users' appeal and thoughts, since Chinese people voice their concerns on the Internet, said President Xi, who also heads the central Internet security and informatization leading group, in a symposium.

"Officials should be more tolerant of and patient with Chinese Net users, accepting constructive suggestions, reporting incidents unknown to many netizens, clarifying [government decisions] that seem vague to the public, redressing grievances and complaints, and guiding and correcting wrong opinions," Xi added.

"We should not only embrace but also carefully study and absorb netizens' well-intentioned criticism and their supervision over the Party, government and officials, be it moderate or sharp," Xi said.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma and Huawei President Ren Zhengfei, one of China's biggest telecommunications companies, also addressed the symposium.

The remarks show that Xi is unsatisfied with officials who are expected to take a greater initiative in interacting with netizens to change the "nasty" cyberspace, Wang Sixin, a law professor at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times.

"After Xi imposed new requirements in February on Party-run news media, his Tuesday statement included far more participants in carrying mainstream views, namely all government and Party leaders," Wang said.

Touring three leading State-owned media outlets, Xi said that all Party-run news media must work to speak for the Party's will and propositions and protect the Party's authority and unity.

"In order to be responsible to society, we shall strengthen the management and construction of cyberspace by promoting a positive cyberspace," Xi was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying.

"A healthy and clean cyberspace conforms to the public's rights and interests, whereas a nasty and deteriorating one fails to protect their rights and interests," Xi said.

However, clamping down on false information, defamation and obscene language on the Internet should be just an auxiliary measure to aligning public opinion with the mainstream, Wang noted.

As the government's decision-making process has been required to be more transparent and open to more public supervision, hearing netizens' opinions is necessary, if they do not fabricate information and their comments do not lead to passive public opinion, said Zhu Wei, a media expert at the China University of Political Science and Law.