China announced Monday it has established a new bureau to unite new social classes, including people working in new media, a move experts say is to further  recognize value of new social classes.

The United Front Work Department (UFWD) under the Communist Party of China Central Committee (CPC) said on its official website Monday that it has established a new bureau to unite managerial and technical staff from private and foreign enterprises, people who work in intermediaries and social organizations, freelancers and those working in new media organizations.

The department said it aims to unite people with the Party and government through political guidance to encourage them to make greater contributions to the country's development.

Fu Siming, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the Global Times that "the new social classes are builders of the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics. We should not only unite them, but also rely on them to pool their strengths for the country's overall development."

In May 2015, President and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping stressed the necessity of improving the united front work among students studying abroad, representatives from new media organizations and intellectuals in new economic and social organizations.

Uniting non-CPC intellectuals has been a basic and strategically important work in the party's efforts to unite the nation, Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

Wang Huiyao, the director-general of Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times that "setting up a bureau for them shows that the government places a high value on new social classes and recognizes their value. This will motivate them to contribute their energy and will enhance national unity."

He suggested that the government recruit more talent from the new social classes into government organizations and encourage them to provide valuable advice.

However, UFWD pointed out that the new social classes are highly mobile and scattered, and active in thinking. These pose problems at work. 

According to the UFWD, they will study these people first to have a better understanding of them, then formulate a working strategy based on it. The UFWD added it will cultivate a team to better unite the new social classes.

Fu suggested that it's better to set up CPC branches in private companies, intermediaries and other social organizations.

"CPC members in those branches should serve as role models and promote their organizations' development," he said.

China said foreign companies with more than three members should start a CPC branch.