On 18 April 2017, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping exchanged views with Mr. Gao Shan, Member of Standing Committee of Changsha Municipal Party Committee, and Director-General of Publicity Department of Changsha Municipal Party Committee. Mme. Zhao Jun, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Report Magazine, Mr. Zhu Jinhui, Deputy Director-General of the Publicity Department, and Mr. Zhou Zhiyuan, Member of Party Working Committee of Changsha Economic Development Zone, attended the meeting.

Director-General Gao thanked ACC and China Report Magazine for selecting Changsha as the first site of the 3rd media trip under the theme of “Jointly Building 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. He cited that Changsha is well-known for its time-honoured history and dynamic development. In recent years, Changsha has grown rapidly with its GDP exceeding one trillion RMB in GDP per annum, ranking the sixth among the total 28 capitals in China. At present, Changsha has dedicated to building itself into a centre of intelligent manufacturing, innovative and creative industry and logistics, as well as developing the export-oriented economy. Furthermore, through the forums for Culture City of East Asia, Youth in Creativity and Heritage, etc., Changsha is endeavouring to create new economic growth areas. Changsha has conducted fruitful cooperation with ASEAN countries in engineering machinery, equipment manufacturing, etc. Half of the international students in Changsha are from ASEAN Member States. Thus, He expected Changsha could further increase friendly exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN Member States to achieve common development goals on the platform provided by ACC under the framework of Jointly Building 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Secretary-General Yang appreciated the thoughtful arrangements by Changsha city for the reporting trip, and outlined the ACC’s mandate and efforts in facilitating friendly exchanges and practical cooperation of both sides. She mentioned that ACC attaches great importance to media cooperation between China and ASEAN. In recent years, ACC has organized several media delegations to visit each other to promote mutual understanding. Due to its solid foundation of cooperation with ASEAN Member States, Changsha is a great place of visit especially under the framework of Jointly Building 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. At the opportunity of this reporting trip, ACC would like to continue to serve as a bridge to link the both sides to further promote the in-depth development of bilateral relations.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Zhao introduced the reporting trip, and opined that China Foreign Language Publishing Administration and China Report Magazine dedicate themselves to fostering mutual visits of Chinese and foreign journalists to promote mutual understanding and friendship. She expected this reporting trip would encourage ASEAN media to cover China in a more objective light and increase the popularity of Changsha in ASEAN countries, and play a positive role in promoting exchanges and collaborations of Changsha and ASEAN.

Director-General Gao also met with the journalists of the media delegation, and introduced socio-economic development of Changsha. He also expressed his hope that, through this event, the journalists from ASEAN countries would deepen the understanding of Changsha, better report Changsha to the local people, and further enhance the friendly exchanges between the two sides.