Over the weekend Chinese president Xi Jinping gave a directive to officials to build a Beijing-supervised “security barrier” around its internet.

The instructions for maintaining and policing the internet were delivered after a cybersecurity meeting in China’s capital.

According to state-sponsored media republished by the government, Xi said it was “essential to uphold the Party’s leadership over the internet sector.”

“Work must be done to forge a strong cybersecurity barrier and give full play to the role of information technology as a driving force for development. It is imperative to govern cyberspace, run websites and apps, and carry out online activities according to the law,” said Xi.

In a speech at the event, Cai Qi, Secretariat of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, argued for the strengthening of publicity and guidance online, guarding against ideological domains, strengthening of cyberspace governance and “leadership” over online ideology.