A Neighborhood Party Talk was held in Guangzhou on October 15th by Bureau I of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Nanfang Media Group. Thirty representatives from political parties, the media and think tanks of seven South Asian countries presented at the event.

According to the organizer, the Neighborhood Party Talk is an innovative event that has been launched to enhance communication between the CPC and the political parties of neighboring countries.

"This is the 16th Neighborhood Party Talk, and is aimed to encourage a dialogue with our South Asian participants about how to cope with both opportunities and challenges in the new media era and our experiences of using new media," he said.

Most representatives concluded that the use of the new media has both pros and cons as it has lowered the cost of information and effectively bridges different nations whilst also bringing to light the problem of fake news. Targeting this issue, they jointly explored possible management mechanisms to maximize the positive role of new media.

Nasrullah Arsalai, Member of the Leadership Council and Secretary-General of the Cabinet Ministers' Council, said, "new media has changed the way government institutions operate and the way political party communicates with the public in Afghanistan because out of a population of 34 million, we have 2.7 million social media users"

Ahmed Shiyam, Deputy Leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives, said that new media has become the major platform for communication between the government, political parties and the public. “Media organizations have the responsibility to release correct and reliable information while the government play the role of gatekeeper.”

When it comes to partnership, the representatives expressed a very positive attitude toward their countries’ cooperation with China.

Prakash Chand Moondotia, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Nationalist Congress Party, said the recent visit of President Xi Jinping to India gives a gesture of very friendly meeting between the two heads of state. "We welcome a constructive approach to develop further the relationship based on the situation at hand, pragmatism, and respect for each other."

With the 126th Canton Fair just having opened on October 14th, Prakash Chand Moondotia said he saw that the plane he took to Guangzhou was full of Indian traders. “So we can see Guangdong is a very important destination with the Indian people coming over doing very good trade here.”

Bedu Ram Bhusal, Vice Chairman of the Central Party School Department and Central Standing Committee of Nepal Communist Party echoed, "All Nepalese people are very happy about President Xi’s recent visit and his saying that ‘there is only friendship between two countries’. We want to make more connection with China especially in terms of infrastructure and economic development".

In addition, Lang Guohua, Member of the Management Committee of Nanfang Media Group and Member of the CPC Party Leadership Group of Nanfang Daily, introduced the methods that the Group has adopted to develop its own new media platforms.

Director Wing Zhang, Hu Liangguang

Author   Jasmine Yin

               Hu Liangguang,Gong Chunhui

Editor   Simon Haywood

Video    Zheng Yijian, Zhou Xinyu