Media in 'rust belt' Chinese province told to downplay region's economic slump

A government official in northern China has ordered the media in his province to downplay the region’s economic woes.

Fan Weiping, the Communist Party’s propaganda chief in Liaoning province, was quoted by the People’s Daily as telling a meeting that the media had to reflect confidence in the area’s future development in their reports.

READ MORE: China's once-booming rust belt now stuck in reverse amid economic slowdown

Fan was quoted as saying the media should lead the public to "look at the trends and be firm in its confidence over development prospects”.

“The external environment and internal conditions have become intertwined and our province is facing stronger economic downward pressure,” he wrote.  “Pessimistic but inappropriate comments such as ‘economic lost track’, ‘economic collapse’ and ‘economic fall’ have appeared in the Liaoning media.

"The political discipline of the party has to be enforced as strict propaganda discipline and the spread of any wrong conceptions that violate the directives of the central government is banned. This is the bottom line that should not be crossed.”

Liaoning is in China’s northeastern rust belt, a region once dominated by heavy industry that has suffered as the country’s economy has slowed.