The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

in Santiago, Chile

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

CHINESE officials urged media companies to play an active role in improving relations between China and countries of Latin American and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, yesterday during the opening session of the inaugural China-Latin America Media Leaders Summit at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) International Conference Centre.

Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared at the opening ceremony along with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. Mr Jinping called on the media of China, Latin America and the Caribbean to “foster enthusiasm and confidence in both sides”.

Officials are expected to expound on this theme today during sessions at which they will discuss the ways media companies from those areas can co-operate.

The conference comes as China and its role in the Bahamas has garnered particular interest in recent weeks following reports of proposed ventures.

On Monday, Prime Minister Perry Christie emphasised that his government would never approve a proposed $2.1bn agri-fisheries venture with Chinese investors which reportedly involved a proposal to lease 10,000 acres of Andros land to them. News of the proposal emerged from The Nassau Guardian weeks ago and excited controversy.

Government representatives have since attacked the media for its portrayal of the Chinese-Bahamian relationship.

Against this backdrop, the summit in Chile aims to dispel “misinformation” about Chinese activities in the western hemisphere, seeing media companies as a first line of defence in accomplishing this goal.

Officials did not just urge media companies to be objective, but they implored them to actively create favourable narratives about China’s relations with Latin America and the Carribean.

Huang Kunming, the Executive Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Director of Cultural Progress Advancement within that institution, called on media companies to “give full play” to the advantages of relations between China and the countries of the western hemisphere.

“To keep pushing forward the China-Latin American relation in the new era, the media circle on both sides has to pool together our wisdom and power,” he said. “In the modern society, media is an important force that leads public opinions, influences government decisions and promotes people-to-people exchanges. It should give full play to its advantages and play a more constructive and conducive role in promoting China-Latin America co-operation.”

“Media relation and public opinions are in a way the barometer of state-to-state relations, and media plays an important role in shaping the international relation and people’s sentiments. Chinese and Latin American media should bear firmly in mind the general direction of China-Latin America friendliness and common development and take concrete steps to perform their responsibility and fulfil their mission. They should proactively guide pubic opinions, promise the win-win concept, advocate development and explain the significance and broad prospects of bilateral co-operation, so as to inject new vitality and energy into the China-Latin American relations.

“There have been voices in the international community that derogate the co-operation and friendliness between China and Latin America, which is all the more reason why we should co-ordinate our stances and work together to utter objective and just voices in response to those misinterpretations in a bid to create a favourable public environment for China-Latin American relations.”