ACC Led a Chinese Media Delegation to Phnom Penh

The ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) led a Chinese media delegation to Cambodia and Viet Nam from 27 June to 5 July 2016 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations. 

The media group, including eight journalists from People.cn, China Daily, China Report, China-ASEAN Panorama, 21st Century Business Herald, Caijing Magazine, China Business News, and Guangxi Daily, first visited Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

On 28 June, Dr. Chea Munyrith, Director of the Confucius Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia (CIRAC), met the media group and briefed on the missions and the history of the institute. As the only Confucius Institute and Chinese language teaching centre in Cambodia, CIRAC had become a well-known brand in education in Cambodia. At its numerous branches across the country, it had trained more than 10,000 students, including the youth from diffident fields of the society and government officials.

The institute not only offered Chinese language classes to its students, but also offered classes introducing Chinese culture and arts.

The representatives of student told the media in fluent Chinese that the institute had broadened their vision, increased their capacity and offered new opportunities for their careers. All students would do their best to promote Cambodia-China relations.

Mr. Shuai Shiyi, the Chinese Director of the institute, also took part in the meeting. 

Meanwhile, the Chinese media group also talked with the media representatives in Cambodia. Reporters from Cambodian media, such as the Commercial News, Jianhua Daily, and khmernavi.com, shared their experience in the country with their Chinese counterparts. Cambodian readers had been keeping an eye on business opportunities by closely following events related to Cambodia-China relations and looked forward to more news on economic development of China. The proliferating use of new media and social media had posed new challenges to traditional media. The traditional media in Cambodia was on the one hand accelerating their transformation and on the other hand improving the quality of stories by pressing close to the social life to inject new vitality to itself. Cambodian media, while paying great attention to the development of Cambodia-China relations, was ready to generate positive energy to ASEAN-China cooperation.

In addition, the media delegation had a discussion with a senior representative of Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone on the functions of and the operation of foreign enterprises, especially resident businesses from China, in the Zone.

On 29 June, the media delegation called on H.E. Mr. Meas Sophorn, Under Secretary of State of the Cambodian Ministry of Information. Leaders from L’Agence Kampuchea Press (the national press agency of Cambodia) and the National Television of Cambodia (Television Kampuchea, TVK) attended the discussion. Mr. Meas Sophorn introduced the policies, development of media and Cambodia-China cooperation in information and media, saying that the Cambodian Government followed the policy of freedom of the press, which contributed to the prosperity of media sector, as was manifested by the operation of more than 500 newspapers and magazines and 19 TV stations, mostly privately-owned, throughout the country. There were six Chinese newspapers and magazines registered with the Ministry of Information of Cambodia. The Ministry and mainstream media maintained close exchange and cooperation with the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China, Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television, Guangxi Television.

Mr. Kem Gunawadh, Director-General of TVK, briefed on the broadcast of Chinese TV dramas in Cambodia on request, saying that “The Romance of Three Kingdoms”, a Chinese TV Series dubbed by Guangxi People’s Radio Station and hot broadcast on TVK, proved particularly popular in Cambodia.

The Chinese media delegation was made up of eight journalists from People.cn, China Daily, China Report, China-ASEAN Panorama, 21st Century Business Herald, Caijing Magazine, China Business News, and Guangxi Daily. The delegation was scheduled to return to China on 5 July.