Chinese academics will be required to promote Communist party doctrine on the Internet, state-run media said Thursday, with promotions dependent on their ability to guide political discussions online.

New guidelines from the country's education ministry call on teachers of political doctrine to promote "core socialist values" on social media, the state-run Global Times said.

The move is the latest effort by China's ruling Communist party to push its ideology in classrooms, raising fears over tightening limits on already curtailed academic freedoms, as well as more broadly.

The news followed an inaugural "Global Marxism Conference" held at the weekend at the prestigious Peking University, which is investing heavily in attempts to modernise the ideology in a form acceptable to the Communist party.

Rival institution Tsinghua has taken efforts a step further by launching a free online course in "Mao Zedong Thought" aimed at students abroad last month.

Chinese teachers preaching Communist doctrine in universities must use "Internet lingo" accessible to young people to spread state-sanctioned political views, the education ministry said on its website.

They should also "identify, resist and critique harmful information online", it added, promising monetary awards and promotions to those who prove successful.

China has long mandated that all university students take "political education" classes.

But teachers of such courses will themselves have to sit through at least 24 hours of "ideological education" annually, the ministry added.

Some teachers have not been attending the required training courses, the newspaper cited an academic as saying.

"Unfortunately, some teachers still scorn those seminars," Tang Zhongbao, an associate professor of Marxism told the paper.

"Therefore, it is important to set a minimum course length to guarantee their participation," he added.

China's President Xi Jinping, who has overseen tightened media censorship and a crackdown on dissent, has called for the Communist party to increase control over universities.

Analysts say academic freedom has decreased since he assumed the party leadership in 2012, with several outspoken professors sacked or jailed.

China's education minister said this year that textbooks promoting "Western values" would be banned at universities.

State-run media have bemoaned that students in China's expanding university sector have lost interest in official ideology.

"It's becoming obvious that the ideas of Marx no longer hold the attention of China's students," the Global Times said in May.

US urges release of Chinese rights lawyer
Washington (AFP) Oct 15, 2015 - Washington on Wednesday renewed its call for China to release a Christian rights activist detained just before he was to meet a US envoy researching religious freedom.

Secretary of State John Kerry and the envoy, Ambassador David Saperstein, urged Beijing to free lawyer Zhang Kai, as they released a report on religious persecution.

"I urge the release of men and women detained or imprisoned anywhere in the world for the peaceful expression and practice of their religious beliefs," Kerry told reporters.

"This includes Mr Zhang Kai, a Chinese Christian human rights lawyer who was detained in late August just prior to a scheduled meeting with Ambassador Saperstein, and whose present whereabouts are unknown."

As part of the preparation for the State Department's annual report into the state of religious freedom around the world, Saperstein visited China August 20-28 to meet officials and activists.

Beijing rejected the criticism Thursday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying that Washington was referring to "Chinese citizens and the Chinese government will deal with these cases in accordance with the law."

The US had "no right to interfere with China's judicial sovereignty and China's domestic affairs under any pretext," she added at a regular briefing.

Launching his report, Saperstein said that in areas where the Chinese government's "hand is lighter" there are flourishing religious communities, but that in some regions a harsh crackdown is under way.

That included Zhang, described by Saperstein as "peaceful, respected."

China's ruling Communist Party keeps tight control over religion for fear it could challenge its grip on power, requiring believers to worship in places approved by the state and under government supervision.

And since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, the government has taken a harder line towards civil and religious society.

More than 200 lawyers and activists, including Zhang, were questioned or detained in July as part of a sweeping nationwide crackdown.

In Wenzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, authorities have stepped up a long-running campaign to remove crosses and several churches have been destroyed.

Saperstein told reporters in Washington that three human rights lawyers, four pastors and three or four other activists were detained before he could meet them.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua dismissed his document.

"We hope the US can discard its prejudice, respect the facts, stop issuing such reports and stop interfering in China's domestic affairs under the flag of religious issues," she said.

"China fully respects people's right to believe," she added.