China state-owned media seeks strong Manila cooperation

The Philippines and Chinese government sought to sustain cooperation in the media and communications industry as relations between the two countries continue to strengthen.

Presidential Communications Operation Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said he hopes to maintain the good relationship between China’s government-owned media outfits and the Philippine media, during the China Media Group’s (CMG) courtesy visit on Thursday, 7 November at the Philippine Information Agency headquarters in Quezon City.

“The cooperation between the Philippines media and Chinese media escalated to levels that are unheard of,” he said.

“We hope that even with the departure of Ambassador Zhao [Jianhua], we can maintain the same good relationship,” Secretary Andanar added.

The PCOO chief also expressed gratitude for the fair coverage of developments in the Philippines by CMG-member outlets such as China Central Television (CCTV), China Global Television Network (CGTN), and China Radio International (CRI).

“We are very grateful for the commitment of CMG. I experience very good coverage from CCTV, CRI, whenever I go [to] different parts of the world,” he said.

Andanar also attributed the good coverage to the close relationship forged between the two countries under the Duterte administration.

“The relationships of the Philippines and China has elevated to a new level since President Duterte was elected into office,” he said.

Meanwhile, the CMG delegation—led by Huang Chuanfang who is a member of its editorial board—thanked the Philippine government for supporting their journalists when seeking requests for interviews, helping to give them deeper understanding on local issues.

“We saw our reports by our journalists in the Philippines from CCTV and CRI. From their reports, which are very newsworthy, [they] show us that they have a deeper understanding,” he said.