'Communists should learn how to speak online'

BEIJING, CHINA: Communist Party cadres should focus on skillfully communicating in cyberspace, said a Chinese daily.

"Cyberspace performance reflects a cadre's all-around capability," the state-run People's Daily said in an article, titled 'How to Speak in a Microblog Era'.

It urged officials to learn "how to speak" when communicating online, reported Xinhua.

Officials have to give up talking in bureaucratic cliches, and they should always tell the truth, said the article.

Officials have to share information with the public in an equal way. "In the cyberspace, there is no rostrum, everyone is a speaker," it reiterated.

Officials have to answer timely and accurately, when questions are raised from Internet users and they are expected to better address concerns of the public through microblog, said the article.

It also encouraged them not to shy away from answering thorny questions.

Microblog has gained much popularity in China since 2010, attracting millions of users, including a large number of officials.

Officials' personal microblogs have turned into channels for dialogues with the public and helped the government present a people-friendly image, the People's Daily article said.

Microblog played a large role in facilitating public debate in the aftermath of the July 23 bullet train collision, in which over 35 people died.

Internet users flooded major microblog platforms, questioning the government's handling of the accident and offering condolences to the victims.