Full text of Jiang Jianguo's speech at China-Africa Media Summit

First, we should jointly uphold the theme of China-Africa cooperation and development. The China-Africa cooperation concerns the wellbeing of 2.4 billion people and features broad prospects and great potential. In recent years, the African lion has forged ahead more quickly and become one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, while China has grown quickly to be the world's second largest economy. Having suffered humiliations and shared weal and woe in the past, the Chinese and African people are now looking at a rare opportunity for win-win cooperation and common development, which is also the theme of the upcoming FOCAC Johannesburg Summit and the theme of public opinion that Chinese and African media should jointly uphold under new circumstances. As the propeller of China-Africa cooperation and development, the media carries a special mission. I hope Chinese and African media can grasp the general trend and actively find topics related with win-win cooperation and common development. They should make emphatic coverage of the new ideas, concepts, measures and results of the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Africa in a wide range of areas, including industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure construction, green development, finance, medical care, cultural exchange, and peace and security. They should timely share China's and Africa's successful experience in state governance and economic and social development, and extensively disseminate the results in the exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and African civilizations. Chinese and African media should make concerted efforts to apply the new concepts and thoughts about win-win cooperation to every aspect of China-Africa cooperation, spread the valuable opportunities for it to both urban and rural areas across China and Africa, and promote this successful model to every field of bilateral cooperation. Regarding the new situations and problems emerging during the cooperation, media on both sides should play an active role in providing explanations and clarifications, so as to build consensus, guide the public opinion and raise constructive critiques and suggestions. The global anti-terrorism campaign is going through complicated and profound changes, and it is urgent that the international community should join hands in coping with terrorism. Chinese and African media should stand together and resolutely oppose terrorism in all forms, defend the bottom line of human civilization, and safeguard world peace and security.

Second, we should jointly consolidate the public support for China-Africa friendship. The root of China-Africa friendliness lies among the people, and the deep friendship between Chinese and African people constitutes the critical social foundation for China-Africa relations. The media, as the main channel for China and Africa to understand each other and an important bridge for their people-to-people exchanges, has found an inexhaustible source of inspirations from the touching stories between Chinese and African people. When a major earthquake hit China's Wenchuan in 2008, African countries all lent a helping hand to China, and President TeodoroObiang of Equatorial Guinea even assigned his foreign minister on a special trip to Beijing to donate EUR1 million for the quake-hit area, which meant EUR1 per person in that country. Such all-out help made Chinese people feel warm at heart despite the adversity. Professor Liu Gaoqiong from China's Nanjing Agricultural University has been teaching at Kenya's Egerton University for almost 20 years, where he has cultivated a large number of agricultural talents for countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. He said he is willing to stay in Africa and devote his life to helping African friends with Chinese agricultural technology. In the performing sector of China, the Steven brothers from Africa have become household stars and the little brother is a runner-up in the famous Chinese variety show called Walk of Fame. Many Chinese audiences have exclaimed that in China's variety shows, it is often African friends that speak fluent Chinese, sing Chinese songs beautifully and have deep feelings for China. These real stories that happen around us have not only witnessed the true friendship between Chinese and African people, but also continuously injected it with nourishment and vitality. I hope Chinese and African media will innovate in the notion, perspective and approach of journalism, discover more contents on the friendly cooperation between China and Africa, report on more real stories about the contacts between Chinese and African people, disseminate more cases of how the China-Africa cooperation has benefited people of both sides, set up more platforms for cultural exchange, and translate more popular films and TV series like Beautiful Daughter-in-Law.In this way, we can plant China-Africa friendship deeply in the heart of both peoples, combine the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation that 1.3 billion Chinese people are striving for with the African Dream of combined strength, development and prosperity that 1.1 billion African people are striving for, and motivate both peoples to realize their own beautiful dream together.

Third, we should create a communication landscape that airs coordinated voices. The power of say is a matter of survival and development and is especially important for developing countries. The continuously rising influence of developing countries in the world today is the most revolutionary change in the international balance of power, but the international media landscape hasn't adapted to the adjustment of international situation. The south-north imbalance in media power and gap in information transmission remain prominent, and prejudices and misunderstandings, falsification of facts and rigid image, which exist in the coverage on them, are still baffling all developing countries. People in the Chinese and African media communities have all felt this, and it is urgent for us to enhance the international communication capacity of media in developing countries and create a more objective, just and balanced international media environment. As an African proverb goes, "you cannot build a house with one log", and sages in ancient China also said“united efforts can conquer all difficulties”, both of which emphasize dealing with difficulties together and sharing opportunities with each other. Chinese and African media should share their experiences and practices in international communication, observe objectiveness and justness in their coverage, firmly protect the common interests of developing countries, and work in unison to air the voice of justice and deliver positive energy from them. They should report on each other to the international community and to third parties in larger quantity and with better quality, increase each other’s visibility in international news, and spread the voice and stories of Chinese and African people in a more direct way, to more parts of the world and with greater effects.