Communist Party of China's gesture of 'openness' to the media

Beijing, July1 (ANI): In an attempt to open up to domestic and overseas journalists, the Communist Party of China has taken a move forward by interacting with them for the first time ahead of the 89th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, which has nearly 78 million members.

According to the China Daily, spokespersons for 11 departments of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central organised the press conference, which attracted more than 120 reporters, a record attendance at a news briefing hosted by the International Communication Office of the CPC Central Committee.

"The CPC Central Committee has always paid great attention to information disclosure of Party affairs and will try to increase transparency," the paper quoted, Wang Chen, director of the International Communication Office of the CPC Central Committee, as saying.

A number of the Party organs have traditionally been reluctant to respond to outside questions.

After the opening remarks by Wang Chen, each of the spokespersons took their turn to brief reporters on their departments and efforts to increase transparency.

The media hailed the latest move as a gesture by the Party to be more open.I hope the Party organs can become more open and transparent to the media," the paper quoted Benjamin Lim, the chief political correspondent at Thomson Reuters' Beijing bureau, as saying.

"Next time if the officials of the United Front Work Department meet the Dalai Lama's private representatives, I hope they could let us, the foreign reporters, be present, even if they spare us just five minutes after the talks," he added.

"Today's conference is a good beginning, but there are still things needed for improvement. I think the Party's spokespersons can invite the leaders in their departments to make face-to-face contacts with the media, as their peers in the State Council Information Office have frequently done," Anthony Kuhn, China correspondent with the US-based National Public Radio said. (ANI)