China, S. Africa call for media cooperation

Jiang Jianguo, minister of the State Council Information Office, delivers the keynote speech at the China-Africa Media Summit in Cape Town, South Africa on Tuesday. Hou Liqiang / China Daily

Chinese and South African officials called for more enhanced media cooperation between China and Africa to have a bigger voice in the world and create "win-win" development for both sides.

They made the appeal on Tuesday at the China-Africa Media Summit in Cape Town, South Africa.

President Xi Jinping and his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, both sent congratulatory messages to the event, a lead-up to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit.

Representatives from 120 media organizations in 47 African countries and some Chinese media participated in the summit, whose theme was "A new era of win-win media cooperation between China and Africa".

The foundation of the China-Africa friendship lies in the people, and the media are an important channel for both sides to communicate and learn from each other, Xi said in his congratulatory message.

"While the communication and cooperation between Chinese and African media have been booming in recent years, a lot more can still be done in the future," the president added. "I hope the media of both sides can use the opportunity of this summit to have more broadened and in-depth cooperation to promote the friendship of China and Africa."

Zuma said, "Media cooperation between China and Africa captures our strong people-to-people cooperation, which can be enhanced by the increased role of the media."

"The media interest and activities around the FOCAC Summit proves the important place the media holds in opening up our cooperation at business-to-business, people-to-people and government-to-government levels," he said.

Jiang Jianguo, minister of the State Council Information Office, said at the media summit’s opening ceremony that China and Africa are both troubled by the world’s unbalanced media power system and face prejudice, misunderstandings and stereotypes.

"It’s very urgent for the developing countries to improve their international communication capability to create a more objective, impartial and balanced international public opinion environment," said Jiang.

He called on Chinese and African media to communicate more about their international communication experiences and to be united in delivering the voice of developing countries.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn