It is time to discuss international rules of conduct and to expand cooperation between countries to protect cybersecurity, a Chinese official said on Tuesday.

Cai Mingzhao, minister of the State Council Information Office, said the United Nations should play a bigger role in leading such efforts.

"We should, step by step, create a fair and transparent mechanism for the governance of cyberspace," Cai said in his keynote address at the EastWest Institute's Worldwide Cyberspace Cooperation Summit in Stanford, California.