When contemplating Chinese diplomacy, the Foreign Ministry in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang district is the first institution to come to mind. But another institute in a 16-floor glittering new building in western Beijing is now playing a more active role.

The Communist Party of China (CPC), which has administered the Chinese government since 1949, is becoming more active in developing relations with overseas counterparts, especially to address with hot issues, through the Central Committee International Department.

"The CPC's external work is an important component of the country's diplomacy," Du Yanling, a senior official with the International Department told an on-going seminar at the top floor of the department's headquarters.

The party has forged relations with more than 400 political parties or organizations in more than 160 countries or regions, Du said. Those parties include both left-wing ones such as the communist or socialist parties and right-wing ones. One third of them are ruling parties or parties participating in the exercise of political power.

The CPC does not take into account differences in ideology or political systems and strives to establish and develop all kinds of exchanges and cooperation with foreign parties, said Du.

"Such a strong and broad relationship between the CPC and overseas parties is helpful for settling some of the problems where diplomacy is challenging," said Shen Jiru, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Science.

While Sino-Japanese relations are troubled by Japan's whitewashing of the atrocities of its imperial era, the Chinese president and CPC Central Committee general secretary, Hu Jintao, met with the secretaries-general of Japan's two ruling parties in May, calling on the two countries to work for long-term, healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

The party-to-party relations also forged a new channel for China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to talk about the nuclear issue. Several CPC officials visited DPRK and exchanged views on the issue with DPRK counterparts, according to reports.

In April, there was a mainland visit by the Kuomintang (KMT) delegation from Taiwan, led by KMT President Lien Chan, who was invited by Hu Jintao.

"Those successful party-to-party exchanges and cooperation helped governmental diplomacy and offered new thoughts in solving problems in both internal and external affairs," said Fu Mengzi, a researcher with the China Research Institute of International Relations.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2005)