BEIJING, CHINA: - Attracting and retaining young talent, expanding their reach by harnessing new media such as blogs, as well as getting more young people interested in politics.

These are common challenges confronting the Young PAP (YP), the youth wing of Singapore's People's Action Party, and the Communist Youth League of China, YP chairman Teo Ser Luck said yesterday.

And in the future, both organisations intend to hold regular exchanges and brainstorming sessions on how to overcome them, he added.

Mr Teo, who was appointed chairman of YP last November, was speaking to reporters after meeting CYL officials, including its first secretary, Mr Lu Hao, yesterday morning.

In their one-hour conversation, Mr Lu and Mr Teo spoke candidly of their own experiences engaging youth 'in an age where there are so many other distractions', said Mr Teo, who is also the Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports, as well as Transport).

Mr Lu came across as 'practical and a dynamic leader', said Mr Teo, 40, who is leading a five-

member YP delegation to China to build ties and exchange views with the CYL, a youth movement run by the Chinese Communist Party.

This is Mr Teo's first overseas visit as YP chairman.

Considered a rising political star, Mr Lu, 42, holds a master's degree in economics from Beijing University and was appointed CYL head in June last year. He was formerly Beijing's youngest vice-mayor when he was elected to that post in 2003 at the age of 35.

The CYL has some 75.4 million members, most of them students, and is seen as the breeding ground for future Chinese leaders. It is the power base of Chinese President Hu Jintao, who had also held the post of CYL first secretary.

YP, said Mr Teo, has 'a few thousand members' and attracts about 700 new members every year.

Before concluding their trip, which ends today, the YP delegation will visit the CYL school, where they hope to learn from their Chinese counterpart's experience, said Mr Teo, who is working on revamping the three-year-old YP school in Singapore.

TRACY QUEK

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 12, 2009.