In an attempt to take a step towards the expansion of regional influence, a Chinese official on Tuesday said that all Asian countries should have their own Facebook and Twitter.

Cui Yuying, deputy director of the State Council Information Office said  that all Asian media groups should exploit the technical innovation to enrich their communication channels. They should also promote their own versions of Facebook and Twitter to promote regional influence.

"Compared with Asia's increasingly vital role in the world economy, the influence of Asian media groups on the world stage is very much disproportionate," Cui said talking at a Media Cooperation Forum at the Changchun city on Tuesday.

Facebook and Twitter were banned in China but there were other microblog services like Twitter which were permitted and had a traffic of over 300 million people becoming the world's largest microblog network.

He also mentioned that there is more than 80% of news originally from the western media groups while the Asian media has struggled. It needs a strong platform with authoritative status he said and stop relying on the Western media to obtain information.

The Beijing-based People's Daily and the Jilin provincial government in northeast China organized the forum and it discussed "Asia's Voice & Values: How Can Media Promote Peace, Harmony & Cooperation."

(AW- Anil)