2023 ASEAN Media Partners Forum opens in S China for innovative future

The 2023 ASEAN Media Partners Forum opened in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on June 6th, marking one step forward for media cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Under the theme of "Innovation·Joined Hands·Future," the event was co-sponsored by the country's flagship broadcaster China Media Group (CMG) and the People's Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Over 200 media professionals, representatives of international organizations, experts and scholars from China and ASEAN countries shared their insights on building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, online and offline.

During the opening ceremony, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam and Cambodian Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith delivered video messages to the forum.

CMG President Shen Haixiong, and Liu Ning, secretary of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and chairman of the regional People's Congress Standing Committee, also delivered on-stage speeches.

A shared future through media innovation

During his opening speech, Shen Haixiong said that China and ASEAN are linked by mountains and rivers, as well as hearts and aspirations as good neighbors, good friends and good partners. China praises the China-ASEAN cooperation, expressing high expectations for building a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home, and a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Drawing up a beautiful blueprint calls for joint efforts from the media of China and ASEAN. As a comprehensive international media carrier with the largest volume in scale, the most dynamic form of business, and the biggest coverage around the globe, CMG has been in close connection with ASEAN media for the past few years, accomplishing remarkable results, said Shen.

After the 20th CPC National Congress, CMG has actively shared the wisdom and opportunities of Chinese modernization with ASEAN friends through a series of media activities regarding "Chinese Modernization and the World," as well as cooperation broadcasts and high-end interviews, said Shen.

"We worked in cooperation with our media counterparts in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia, co-produced 10 different TV programs, and created refreshing and interesting all-media content for the ASEAN audience who look forward to learning and understanding more about China, all showing viewers around the world the real, three-dimensional, and comprehensive China and ASEAN."

In recent years, CMG has been vigorously advancing the "5G+4K/8K+AI" technology innovation, making many record-breaking achievements, including the world's first successful livestream of important events via its 8K TV channel and the 8K international public signal production of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, said Shen.

China and ASEAN have played an important role in safeguarding world peace and promoting global development. The media on the two sides should work hand in hand, unite and continue to tell stories of win-win cooperation, letting the consensus of "good neighbors, good friends, good partners" take root, sprout, blossom and bear fruit in people's hearts, said the editor-in-chief.

Liu Ning pointed out that 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the 20th anniversary of the China-ASEAN Expo. This year's media forum is the non-session high-level forum of the 20th China-ASEAN Expo.

Guangxi is a major international gateway for China to ASEAN, a new strategic fulcrum for opening-up and development in China's southwest and central south regions, and an important gateway for China to connect with the BRI regions, Liu added.

Guangxi has beautiful landscapes, unique ethnic minority customs and diverse cultures, and the region is speeding up construction of the Pinglu Canal and the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, making it convenient to handle domestic and international market operations, serving and integrating into the new development pattern, said Liu.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said in his video address that Thailand-China friendly relations have a long history and the cooperation between the two countries in politics, economy, culture, education and other fields has made great progress through the years.

The story of friendly cooperation between Thailand and China in various fields cannot be separated from the joint efforts of the media of the two countries. China's rapid development, especially the new historic achievements in the Chinese-style modernization drive, has attracted great attention from the international community.

Thailand is looking forward to strengthening the dissemination of friendly cooperation between ASEAN and China and between Thailand and China through the power of the media, and telling the world the wonderful stories of win-win cooperation accurately and vividly through pictures, short videos or documentaries. It is believed that all-round exchanges and cooperation between Thailand and China will also usher in a new climax, said the deputy prime minister.

In his video address, Cambodian Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said that Cambodia, as the first country to sign the action plan on building a community of a shared future with China, has a long history of exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the field of news and communication.

The Cambodian media has always maintained good exchanges and interactions with its Chinese counterpart.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Cambodian Ministry of Information and CMG signed this year will play a positive role in promoting Cambodia-China friendly relations to a new level.

It is hoped that ASEAN countries and China will continue to explore new models of cooperation, enhance the positive influence of the media, and contribute to the building of a closer community with a shared future.

Launch ceremonies for media cooperation

During the opening ceremony, attendees also witnessed several launch ceremonies such as the "ASEAN Media Partners" Group's Tour on Chinese Modernization, China-ASEAN Media Complex AI Studio and ASEAN Zone in the EtherealSound App of CMG.

During the "ASEAN Media Partners" Group's Tour on Chinese Modernization, more than 30 journalists from 18 mainstream media organizations from eight ASEAN countries will travel to Guilin, Liuzhou, Qinzhou, Beihai and other cities in Guangxi together with reporters from CMG and local media organizations to conduct interviews.

CMG will continue boosting the integrated transmitting of "Idea+Art+Technology," building up and smartly utilizing technology platforms, such as the "China-ASEAN Media Complex AI Studio," and form an all-round, deep industrial cooperation with its ASEAN partners to think broadly and work hard, and share the achievements and improvements with ASEAN partners, said Shen Haixiong.

CMG is also committed to working with ASEAN media partners and further leveraging communication advantages, such as its services available in 68 languages, the CGTN media convergence on all platforms, multi-language internet celebrity studios, the CCTV Video News Agency (CCTV+) and overseas production centers, creatively launching the ASEAN Tour for Digital Image of Chinese Culture and the ASEAN Media Partner Tour for Chinese Modernization, enhancing mutual learning in different civilizations and boosting people-to-people relations, Shen added.

Source: CGTN