China, Vietnam parties share ideas on keeping power

Nov 28, 2011, 13:26 GMT

Beijing - Top propaganda officials from the Chinese and Vietnamese communist parties shared ideas Monday on how to maintain a grip on their one-party states, focussing on 'relating to the masses under new circumstances,' Chinese state media said.

Dinh The Huynh, the Vietnamese Communist Party's propaganda chief, said Monday's talks would be helpful for 'solidifying the ruling basis of the parties' and improving bilateral relations, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The agency quoted Liu Yunshan, Huynh's counterpart in the Chinese Communist Party, as saying the parties faced the 'common tasks of strengthening and improving their work with the masses' and should focus on 'solving problems most relevant to the people.'

The talks took place under an annual inter-party seminar on political theory in the eastern Chinese city of Changzhou.

China's Communist Party launched a crackdown against dissidents and rights activists following online calls in February for anti-government protests.

Facing growing protests by aggrieved farmers, migrant workers and urban residents, it has shown signs of heeding public opinion on non-political issues.

The Chinese party has also tried to control the hundreds of millions of people who use China's microblogs and online forums, and has encouraged government departments to launch their own microblogs.

Tension rose between China and Vietnam earlier this year over maritime areas near the disputed Spratly islands.

But after talks last month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said diplomats from the two nations agreed to resolve the disputes through negotiations and planned to set up a hotline.

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