Chinese envoy calls for more China-Africa media cooperation

Africa and Chinese media should deepen cooperation to improve their coverage of international and home issues and make people better understand what is happening, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Guangyuan said on Monday.

The ambassador termed as "unacceptable" the continued misrepresentation by the Western media of the Africa-China relations, urging that the only way to correct the situation is for China and Africa to tell their own story.

"It is unethical for the Western media to force a wedge between China and Africa relations," said the ambassador.

He was speaking at a seminar on China-Africa media cooperation with a theme on enhancing China-Africa media cooperation for shared dreams. The seminar brought together media managers and scholars from across Africa and China.

Liu said it is unfair that even today, Western media reporting about Africa is about war, poverty and diseases among other negatives without balancing it with the positive transformations.

According to the Chinese envoy, the growing relations between China and Africa are based on mutual development and therefore the media of the two regions need to promote it by writing more about each other, so that people will get better understanding on the benefits that will occur from the relationship.

He cited the fact that four major Chinese media houses have set up their African headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and branches in many African countries.

China's state news agency Xinhua, for instance, has presence in more than 44 African countries.

"I want to invite the African media houses also to set up their operations in China so that they can effectively inform the Chinese people about Africa," he said, adding that Chinese media is ready to cooperate with the African media on enhancing capacity building.

"We should tell our story and not let it be told by other people," the ambassador said.

The seminar is expected to come up with suggestions on strategies that can be applied by China and Africa to increase their cooperation and improve their global influence.