Media has role to play in strengthening ties between China, Latin America: official

New media organizations from China and Latin America have created a solid public foundation for the development of bilateral relations, a senior Chinese official said here Wednesday.

"To keep pushing forward China-Latin American relations in the new era, media circles on both sides have to pool together our wisdom and power," said Huang Kunming, Executive Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, during a keynote speech at the China-Latin America Media Summit held in Santiago, Chile.

The summit is being held at a historical moment when Chinese President Xi Jinping paid state visits to three Latin American countries and attended the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Summit, noted Huang, who also serves as the director of the Cultural Progress Advancement Office of CPC Central Committee.

In his speech, Huang reviewed the progress made in the "rich and brilliant joint reports" in the Chinese and Latin American media in recent years. He also put forward three proposals for how the media could play a stronger role in strengthening ties between China and Latin America.

Firstly, the media should highlight and uphold the progress made in China-Latin America relations.

"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 fulfill their mission," Huang said, adding that the media should actively guide public opinion by promoting win-win aspects of the relationship while explaining the significance and broad prospects of bilateral cooperation. Doing so would "inject new vitality and energy" into bilateral relations.

Secondly, the media should promote aspects of pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America. Covering topics that focus on the practical relationship between the two sides is key here.

"The media should clearly report on each other's investment policies, market demands and interests, deliver more comprehensive, specific and friendly information to each other, and set a tone of sincerity, friendliness, openness and inclusiveness for China-Latin America cooperation," said Huang.

Finally, the media should foster China-Latin America friendliness through organizing a series of discussions on a wide range of topics and mobilizing government, enterprises, the public and social organizations to to push forward friendly relations between the two, noted Huang.

The summit, organized by the State Council Information Office of China and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), is the first event of this type ever held between both regions.

Over 20 media chiefs from China and Latin America, including President of Xinhua News Agency, Cai Mingzhao, delivered speeches at the summit.

The summit attracted more than 100 mainstream news organs to join the discussion on how to further promote mutual understanding and friendly cooperation between China and Latin America through the media. Endi