KAZAN, August 18. /TASS/. Secretary General of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and TASS Deputy Director General Marat Abulkhatin has called on the Russian and Chinese mass media to join forces to counter "floods of lies" in unfriendly media about Russian-Chinese relations.

"One specific area [of cooperation between the Russian and Chinese media] is the fight against fake news. Naturally, there are a great many detractors. <…> Every meeting or summit with the Chinese is followed literally by an uncontrollable flood of lies about our relations. That is why the fight against fake news is a special priority," he said at the Sprouts: Russia and China - Mutually Beneficial Cooperation forum.

He recalled that TASS, in cooperation with ANO Dialogue Regions and the New Media Workshop, had co-founded the Global Fact-Checking Network, or GFCN. "We already have more than a hundred participants - renowned international experts from more than 50 countries," he noted. "We discuss this area of countering false news with our Chinese colleagues at a Moscow venue."

The 4th International Forum Sprouts: Russia and China - Mutually Beneficial Cooperation is taking place in Kazan from August 16 to 19. Its business program includes 51 business sessions in 19 areas. Among the forum’s participants are more than 200 major companies from China. Discussions cover such areas as artificial intelligence, unmanned technologies, logistics, and new joint projects. The program also includes the first Russian-Chinese symposium on healthcare technologies and a Russia China Expo exhibition.

TASS is the general media partner of the forum.