Spotlight: LatAm media leaders praise Xi's speech, optimistic about China-LatAm media cooperation

Latin American media leaders have praised Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at a summit for Chinese and Latin American media executives held here Tuesday, saying they are optimistic about the prospects of China-Latin America media cooperation.

While affirming media exchanges are an important part of the overall China-Latin America relationship, Xi urged Chinese and Latin American media outlets to work together to speak up on important issues concerning world peace and development, help boost pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America and learn from each other to take bilateral media cooperation to a higher level.

Xi's attendance at the media summit after he participated in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru, showed that he was very optimistic about the prospects for China-Latin America media cooperation, said Miguel Winazki, chief editor of Argentina's Clarin newspaper.

Clarin will deepen cooperation with the Chinese media, Winazki added.

Xi's speech at the media summit was very encouraging, said Olman Manzano, who is in charge of the website of Honduras' La Tribuna newspaper, adding that he totally agrees with Xi's judgment on a bright future for China-Latin America media cooperation.

He said that deepening cooperation between bilateral media bodies will promote economic and cultural exchanges between China and Latin America.

China is a great country and under Xi's leadership, China and Latin America are building a community of shared destiny, Manzano said.

"Just like President Xi said, more and more Latin America media professionals should go to China so that Latin American people can know a real and vivid China through the eyes of the media and can experience the development vitality and prosperity of the world's second-largest economy," he said.

Xi, in his speech, said that China will invite a number of Latin American journalists to work and study in China and train 500 media staff for Latin American and Caribbean nations.

For Nohelia Gonzalez, editor-in-chief of Nicaragua's La Prensa newspaper, who had flown a dozen hours to attend the media summit, listening to Xi's speech in person was a hard-won experience for a mainstream media outlet in the Central American country.

"Nicaragua is still a poverty-stricken country. We have a lot to learn from China whether in the media or economic development," Gonzalez said.

She hoped that Chinese and Latin American media outlets can learn from each other to further China-Latin America pragmatic cooperation.

Mauricio Madrigal, head of Nicaragua's Canal 10 Television network, said that Nicaraguan people know little about China due to the great distance between the two countries.

Therefore, as a media professional, he said, he bears great responsibility to let his compatriots know more about China.

Madrigal said he will use his cameras as a bridge for China-Latin America cultural exchanges, helping Nicaraguan people better understand China and making the two peoples real friends.

Alejandro Ramos, president of Notimex, the official Mexican news agency, told Xinhua that the media is exerting growing global influence with the emergence of the Internet and social media.

The media is playing an increasingly important role in promoting mutual understanding and benefits as well as enhancing people-to-people, economic and trade exchanges between nations, Ramos said.

Against such a backdrop, colleagues of Chinese and Latin American media outlets are telling stories of inter-state friendship and cooperation via different media platforms, he said.

"Xi's speech at the media summit gives us confidence. Cooperation between China and Latin American countries such as Mexico always sticks to the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. We have reasons to believe that China-Latin America ties have entered the best period in history," Ramos said.

Carlos Benavides, deputy chief editor of Mexico's El Universal newspaper, agreed with Ramos. "The media is a bridge for China and Latin America to strengthen mutual understanding and friendship," he said.

Sergio Andres Gomez Cepeda, chief editor of Colombia's La Vanguardia newspaper, called for creating new space for China-Latin America cooperation.

"For Latin America, we expect China-Latin America cooperation will produce more new opportunities, not only in trade, but also in the media," he said. Endi