International experts and media spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's congratulations to a media organization launched Saturday, saying the media outlet will serve to better the world's understanding of China.
In a congratulatory message to the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Xi urged it to "tell China stories well" to the world, noting that "China needs to know better about the world and the world needs to know better about China."
Set up by the China Central Television as a rebranding of CCTV news, CGTN, consisting of six TV channels, three overseas branches, a video content provider and a digital media division, will integrate resources as part of the trend in media convergence, and be a multi-language, multi-platform media group.
Xi said CGTN should tell stories about China well and spread China's voice well, which will enable the world to see a multidimensional and colorful China.
He said the new media outlet should present China as a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and an upholder of international order, so as to work for the efforts to build a community of common destiny.
Kirill Batygin, head of the Moscow MandarinPro, a community of Russian-Chinese translation, said the new television network of China is "a great way for the whole world to gain a better understanding of China. It is the further proof of China's growing international standing and its openness to the world."
"Moreover, the new network strengthens the voice of China in the modern world, a voice that is distinct from the West. CGTN will undoubtedly become an exceptional platform for the people of the world to discover and understand the multiple facets of China as a modern country with a rich cultural heritage," added Batygin.
In February 2016, Xi called for innovation in concepts, content and methods while visiting the country's three leading media institutions -- the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's flagship newspaper; Xinhua News Agency, the state news agency; and CCTV, the country's top broadcaster.
Xi told the media groups to use the new media's edge in reaching people, turn up their voice on the international stage, tell stories about China well, and build flagship media groups with strong global influence.
Moustafa Amin, a media expert in Cairo University, said rebranding the channel signals China's willingness to engage with the Arab world, the Middle East and the African continent.
The fact that the media network has an office in Cairo and a regional bureau in Kenya indicates China's keenness in the African continent and its willingness to expand cooperation with other developing countries, added Amin.
He noted that CGTN, by presenting "diversified and non-biased news coverage," will play an important role in the communication between China and the Arab world, hence becoming "a very good tool to bridge the China-Arab ties."
"I expect it to play more roles in the near future effectively... I expect more fans for the Chinese media, especially with more movies and series translated into Arabic," he said, adding the Arab world has already been prepared to learn more about China.
CGTN will articulate China's perspective to the world, and tell the world about China, said Charles Kerich, managing editor at Kenyan Star Newspapers.
With important initiatives championed by China, like the Belt and Road Initiative, the role of CGTN will be critical to public education," Kerich said, adding CGTN has "a real opportunity to shape world opinions on global issues and must take this leadership role seriously."
Samuel Maina, editor-in-chief of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, echoed Kerich by saying that the new Chinese media outlet "is a welcome development since it is going to open the world far and wide ... be more global and cover different aspects, features, news, sports, business and entertainment."
Fan Xuan, editor-in-chief of Germany's Europe Times, said in an interview with Xinhua that CGTN was launched "when global public opinion needs to be balanced by more timely, accurate and comprehensive news reports and better reflect voices of developing or least developed countries around the world."
Fan hailed the launching as "a major event" for the global media industry and world opinion, saying the move could provide a "China platform" and "Chinese perspective" for global audiences to promote mutual understanding between China and the world and to help create a fair and just global public opinion.
"It is of great significance if countries, big or small, strong or weak, could get their due shares in global opinion resources and have their own voices heard by engaging dialogues on a equal footing, " Fan noted.
