A senior Chinese official Monday called for better China-India media exchanges and cooperation in order to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the people of the two countries.

Cai Mingzhao, head of the Information Office of the State Council of China, said media is an important tool to disseminate information, transmit culture and bridge different civilizations.

"They serve as a bridge to enhance understanding between the people and to foster friendship," he told a conference of media forum held in the Indian capital, which was attended by about 50 Indian and Chinese journalists, scholars and experts.

For his part, Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid said it is extremely important for the media of the two countries to help the two countries enhance trust and the ability to understand each other through a "common language" and "media speaking words."

For doing so, he said the media of the two countries can create a "hybrid" of languages which translates ideas into a common language.

Cai said in recent years, Chinese and Indian media have played a unique and positive role in maintaining and consolidating strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

"Exchanges and cooperation between media in the two countries are progressing comprehensively. Exchanges between executives of mainstream media are more frequent and so are those between media professionals," he said.

But he also pointed out that the media of the two countries have a lot more to do to establish a good relationship and to better report each other's country.

"Nonetheless, for some reasons, Chinese and Indian media still do not have sufficient understanding of each other's country, still cannot fully reflect the current status of the friendly bilateral relations, and still cannot meet the two peoples' demand for information about the other country," he said.

To overcome the current shortcomings in the reporting of each other's country by the media, it is necessary for Chinese and Indian media to engage in long-term and frequent dialogues and communication, "pushing us to see each other rationally and objectively and presenting a real China and a real India to domestic audience", he suggested.

"I suggest that media of both countries carry out extensive cooperation in mutual visits, article exchanges and joint interviews. I hope that they could gradually station more reporters in each other's country, or send more reporters to each other's country to conduct interviews, meet local residents, and gather real, fresh and first-hand information," said Cai.?