TAIWAN: Chinese media delegation wraps up week-long visit

Delegation chief from China's Taiwan Affairs Office says he hopes reciprocal media offices can be established in both countries in the near future

Taipei Times
Monday, August 3, 2009

A Chinese media delegation wrapped up a weeklong visit yesterday with a commitment to promote cross-strait journalistic exchanges and cooperation.

Delegation chief Yang Yi, director of the information department of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference that the visit had been very fruitful.

Academics, journalists and media executives from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait discussed issues regarding the promotion of bilateral journalistic exchanges, Yang said.

"Even though Taiwanese and Chinese media organizations operate in different environments and their management philosophies and operational principles are not identical, there should still be ample room for them to share their experiences and learn from each other," Yang said.

Both sides had agreed to increase exchanges to lay a solid foundation for normalization of cross-strait journalistic cooperation, Yang said.

Some media organizations also tentatively agreed to cooperate or give mutual support in news coverage, he said.

One of the purposes of the 16-member delegation's trip was to push for the establishment of reciprocal media offices, and Yang said he hopes a deal could be reached as soon as possible to facilitate cross-strait news coverage and contribute to the peaceful development of bilateral ties.

"There have been mounting calls for each side to allow media organizations from the other side to set up permanent offices to facilitate continued and in-depth news coverage," Yang said.

As basic differences in journalistic concepts and media functions exist between the two sides, however, Taiwan remains reluctant to strike a deal with China on reciprocal media company offices, Yang said.

Yang said he believes any problems in bilateral engagements can be overcome through goodwill exchanges.

"We can do whatever is easy first to achieve concrete progress, leaving the more thorny issues to be tackled at a later stage," he said.

WITH CNA

Date Posted: 8/3/2009