Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi answered questions from Chinese and foreign journalists on “China’s foreign policy and foreign relations” during the two sessions on March 7. According to BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonell, the press conference was held remotely for the second year in a row due to the restrictions of the New Guinea Epidemic. Some of the journalists who were allowed to attend the conference asked him questions over the air by video conference.
Sunday’s press conference lasted an hour and 40 minutes, with Wang Yi answering a record 27 questions on the spot, sources showed. During the meeting, the Chinese and foreign media who asked Wang Yi questions were, in order: CCTV, TASS, People’s Daily, Egypt’s Middle East News Agency, Hong Kong‘s CNA, NBC, CGTN, AFP, China Radio and TV, China-Arab TV, Xinhua, Singapore’s Union-Tribune, Shenzhen TV, Kyodo News, Global Times, Indonesia’s Antara News, Phoenix. Indonesia’s Antara News Agency, Phoenix Satellite Television, Kazakhstan’s 24KZ TV, Beijing Daily, India’s Press Trust, China News Service, Italy’s Ansa, CCTV, Singapore’s Straits Times, Punch News, Cuba’s Latin American News Agency and China Daily.
At the end of the press conference, a reporter from China Daily, which is sponsored by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and administered by the Information Office of the State Council, asked “on behalf of netizens” that “some foreign media, especially Western media, are selective in their coverage of China. This is reminiscent of the Time in Yan’an when the American journalist Snow and his book “Red Star Shines in China” gave the world its first insight into the Chinese Communist Party and the real Red China. Do you think there is still a possibility of a new era of ‘Snow’ among foreign journalists?” Wang Yi replied, “First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my foreign media friends for their hard work. The media is an important bridge for communication and understanding among countries. Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic last year, many foreign media friends have stayed at their posts, overcome difficulties and continued to tell the world the story of the Chinese people’s fight against the epidemic. You have worked hard!”
Wang Yi said, “More than 80 years ago, Edgar Snow and Anna Louise Strong, Agnes Smedley and a group of other foreign journalists came to Yan’an in northern Shaanxi Province, China, and faithfully introduced to the world what they had seen, heard and thought. Snow was not a communist, but he viewed the Chinese Communist Party without ideological bias, always adhered to the objective truth, and always pursued a fair conscience. The professionalism and moral integrity he displayed were admirable, and he devoted his Life to improving mutual understanding between the Chinese and American people, and the Chinese people still miss him today.”
Wang Yi said, “China today needs to better understand the world, and the world needs to better understand China. No matter how times change, the media should adhere to professional ethics. I hope that when foreign media reporters focus their attention on China, they should neither use ‘beauty cameras’ nor ‘gray and black filters’. As long as you are truthful, objective and fair, your reports will be rich and wonderful, and will stand the test of history. China hopes and welcomes more foreign media reporters to become ‘Snowes of the new era’.” The three American journalists named by Wang Yi, Snow, Strong and Smedley, hold the official title of “Old Friends of the Chinese People,” and in 1984 the “China Three Ss Research Association” was established in Beijing with Deng Yingchao as honorary president and Huang Hua as president. “In 1984, the SMEDLEY-STRONG-SNOW SOCIETY OF CHINA was established in Beijing with Deng Yingchao as honorary president and Huang Hua as president.
According to Zhang Xinmin, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served as editor of the international news editorial department of Xinhua News Agency, chief correspondent of the Berlin bureau, and deputy director of the reference editorial department of Xinhua News Agency, who wrote an article, “‘Export to domestic sales’ is a traditional practice of the Chinese Communist Party. It arose in the background as a way for leaders to promote themselves in an environment surrounded by a blockade and under conditions where their own foreign propaganda power was extremely weak.” He writes, “The earliest ‘export to domestic sales’ can probably be traced back to an interview with the Chinese Communist Party leaders by the American journalist Edgar Snow during his visit to northern Shaanxi in 1936 and his book “A Journey to the West” written after he finished his visit. The earliest ‘domestic’ market for this book was the Chinese in the Nationalist-ruled areas, and its influence was felt for generations.”
According to Zhang Xinmin, “Later there were talks between Mao and British journalist Bertrand in October 1937 on the situation in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the ideas of the Chinese Communist Party; and between Mao and American journalist Anna Louise Strong in August 1946 on the international and Chinese situation after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the future of China after the victory of the war against Japan. The transcripts of these two famous conversations are now available to people in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong.” He writes, “Because this practice of ‘export to domestic sales’ worked so well, it was carried over after the founding of the country. But there was supposedly an additional reason to let foreigners speak for us, so that we could take no responsibility for its content, and after Reference News turned ‘domestic’, the Chinese could likewise know in time what their leaders had said to the outside world.”
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