Xinhuanet launches Singaporean Channel

A launching ceremony for Xinhuanet's Singaporean Channel was held in Beijing on March 29.

Attending were 50 guests, including Zhou Xisheng, vice president of Xinhua News Agency, Stanley Loh Ka Leung, Singapore's ambassador to China, Gao Jianyun, deputy director of Network Bureau of the State Internet Information Office, Tian Shubin, president of Xinhuanet, Zhang Hongtie, counselor of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as representatives of Singaporean enterprises operating in China, the Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and the Shanxi Provincial Tourism Bureau.

Addressing the ceremony, Zhou Xisheng said the launching of the channel indicates that Xinhuanet has taken a new step in pursuing its internationalization strategy, and improving its international publicity capability.

He expressed the hope that the Singaporean channel would serve as a bridge for the two countries to enhance exchanges and cooperation in all areas.

Ambassador Stanley Loh Ka Leung said the Singaporean channel opened by Xinhuanet in Singapore has added a new channel for the Southeast Asian people to understand China, and will help China transmit its voice to Southeast Asia better and the neighboring countries have a better understanding of China.

Wu Lei, executive general manager of the Singaporean Channel said that the Singaporean Channel is designed to be capable of spreading information extensively online, and to be trustworthy offline.

In addition to transmitting news information, the channel also performs the function of carrying out cooperation offline. Xinhuanet offers the idea of enabling its services to be products, which means working closely with clients to meet their most urgent needs, he said.

Assisting enterprises in going abroad is an important task of the channel, he said, adding: "We are ready to work hand in hand with enterprises from the two countries in exploring the market faster and more effectively.

Xinhuanet's Singaporean channel is the first of its kind that China's mainstream media have launched specially for a given country in Southeast Asia.

On the basis of ensuring that its news items and commentaries are authoritative, the channel tries to enable its column design to meet the need of netizens, in a bid to provide comprehensive service-oriented information concerning tourism, education and investment in Singapore.