BEIJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Spokespersons of China's central and local Party and government agencies as well as centrally-administered enterprises gathered in Beijing Sunday to discuss the development and innovation of the press sector.

The 2018 China Spokespersons Forum, sponsored by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and organized by the National Institute of Strategic Communication at Peking University, was attended by more than 100 spokespersons, scholars and representatives of news organizations.

The theme of the forum was the development and innovation of news releasing system with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Xu Lin, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the SCIO, called on the press sector to better respond to public opinion, advance reform, tell stories about China and take the lead in spreading mainstream values.

Participants such as Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang, and Meng Wei, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission, also expressed their opinions about improving quality and efficiency of news releases.