China-India media forum held in Beijing
February 1, 2015, 1:46 pm

Jiang Jianguo, director of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) of China (second from right) and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj (center) at the China-India media forum in Beijing on 1st February 2015 [Xinhua]

“Media organizations of the two countries should not simply appeal to nationalist sentiment or hype those eye-catching negative topics,” said Jiang Jianguo, director of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) of China.

“Instead, they should keep in mind the mainstream direction of China-India ties, which is characterized by friendly cooperation, accurate and objective reporting while reducing misunderstandings and suspicions,” he added.

China and India share a 2,000-km-long border that has never been formally delineated. The two countries began discussing border issues in the 1980s.

On Sunday, participants from China and India discussed the role media plays in promoting bilateral strategic partnership, boosting economic cooperation, as well as the potential of cooperation in new media, said state media Xinhua.

“As our strategic and cooperative relationship deepens in the bilateral domain and expands in regional and international cooperation, it is vital that or people have a good understanding of each other’s interests and viewpoints,” said Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj at the forum.

“A critical change in nature of our bilateral ties over the last few decades has been its growing economic dimension. China is today our largest partner in trade in goods. The two economies are moving to invest each other. Serious discussions on enhancing connectivity have been initiated. On that foundation, we are now seeking to take our economic cooperation to a qualitatively new level,” the Indian Foreign Minister added.

Swaraj is in Beijing for a three-day visit during which she will also attend a Russia-China-India Foreign Ministers’ meet.

To boost tourism the two countries had set 2015 as the “Visit India Year in China” while 2016 will be the “Visit China Year in India”.

China and India are also working on the ambitious “Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-China” (BIMC) economic corridor, a region host to 40 per cent of the world’s population. The planned corridor would run from Kunming to Kolkata, linking Mandalay in Myanmar as well as Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

The media forum, jointly hosted by the SCIO of China and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India, attracted more than 120 participants, including delegates from some 40 leading Chinese and Indian media organizations as well as scholars and government officials from both countries.

The first India-China media forum was held in New Delhi in September 2013.