Chinese news agency invites Manuel Mallia to open its Malta bureau. Manuel Mallia accepts.
MINISTER MANUEL MALLIA’S SPEECH AT THE LAUNCH OF THE XINHUA NEWS AGENCY BUREAU IN MALTA
Reference Number: PR2672
Department of Information Press Release Issue Date: Nov 29, 2013
It is my great pleasure to be here today for the launch of the Xinhua News Agency Bureau in Malta. The establishment of this bureau clearly demonstrates that notwithstanding the geographical distance separating our two countries, there are many areas of cooperation that are possible within the very good relationship that exists between Malta and China.
Xinhua is a large organisation which until today, boasted a total of 138 bureaus, 31 within China and 107 in the rest of the world. As from today, it is now 139.
I believe that the presence of Xinhua in Malta is an important strategic step for the agency. Malta enjoys many characteristics that made such a step forward a natural one. We are an island nation, a member State of the European Union, with strong links and ties to our neighbours form the South, in the African continent. Over the years, centuries and indeed millennia, we have seen that in the arch of world history, there has always been a footprint left on our shores. Momentous worldwide events were always reflected by developments here. In today’s world, the transfer and knowledge of information and news has become ever more crucial, as is its transmission in real time. China has fast become a major player in the world’s economy, and a major trading partner, indeed growing, with the European Union. Every day we hear of one area or another where the EU, or any of its Member States, increase or develop their level of cooperation with China, something that we have always sought to do. The setting up of this bureau will definitely provide an extremely useful and valuable information link which will support all the other, already existing, links that our two countries enjoy.
This bureau will also serve to establish ties between the journalistic communities of our two countries. Our ever growing cooperation means that our population is always more and more interested in knowing of developments in China, while I am sure that the exposure which will be granted to Malta in China through this knowledge transfer gateway will serve to make our island attractive to Chinese business, industry, tourists and students.
This will be my second event today related to the diffusion of mass culture and information.
I have just presided over the launch of the International Writers’ Institute, an institute intended to bring together writers from different countries and backgrounds, cooperating in this rich cultural and historical environment of ours, for the production of scripts meant for the cinema.
Malta has always been a crucible and a melting pot for the interaction and synergy between cultures. This is where we want to take Malta. We are open to other cultures because we believe in the significant contribution different cultures can make not only to our society, but also to each other through our society. We have served, and will continue to serve as a common ground where different cultures meet without clashing, and the opening of this information channel can only serve to further enhance possibilities in that regard.
As the Minister responsible for state broadcasting, I am regularly in contact with, and am very much aware of the sterling work that Maltese journalists do, notwithstanding certain limitations that cannot be avoided. We have always been proud of our media, irrespective of the medium they work for, be it state, party or private, and they have always worked magnificently with foreign colleagues when events here attracted the attention of the eyes of the world through the international media community.
This will therefore definitely be a win-win situation for both of our countries and both of our journalistic populations. I, therefore welcome you once again to here, and wish the Malta bureau of the Xinhua agency success in its venture for many years to come.
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Kelli ingravata bhal tal Hons. Mallia fis-sekondarja Santu Wistin. Tghid idubbaha minn hemm?
“notwithstanding certain limitations that cannot be avoided”
Joke of the year.
Fortunately for Mallia, there aren’t too many zeroes in the number of agencies Xinhua has around the world.
The feeding frenzy continues. Surely they’ll need to take a Rennie at some point? No, I expect not.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Michael-Parnis-ends-35-year-trade-union-career-20131130
The population of China is a mere 13 people.
He should’ve given his speech to the “International Writers” for some flowering, smoothing and polishing as it is insipid, lacks internal coherence and cohesion and is littered with mistakes including a few of the silly type.
Yes, of course, a quick Google search revealed this agency’s propensity to publish the Chinese government’s ‘scathing reports’ on human rights abuses in the west.
Sometimes it quotes Belarus to deliver more of the same accusations. Belarus is a place where it was made illegal to applaud following demonstrations in 2010, earning the country’s president the spoof Nobel.
Curiouser and curiouser. Of course we all know that there’s no commercial justification for this bureau to be set up in Malta, so what is it really for?
It used to be “Moscow’s eyes” as experts in Kremlinology would put it. Now, it’s Beijing’s eyes…
I would say that it is most newsworthy that it is Malta’s head of security himself who has been given the opportunity to make the headlines, yet again, on the formalisation of this special relationship with China.
The first thing that comes to mind is the aerial shot of Berlin recently, locating all the potential NSA surveillance positions on administrative buildings, following Merkel’s outrage.
Quite handy that broadcasting falls within his same remit.
Mallia is the minister responsible for public broadcastng services. His speech wasn’t mere niceties. It was an ominous warning
The man doesn’t know the meaning of freedom and democracy, nor anything about the role if independent media and public broadcasting in a supposedly democratic society.
Xinhua is owned and run by the Chinese government. It serves to support the government, rather than scrutinising it and holding it to account.
And our very own minister of broadcasting thinks that’s brilliant.
‘We are open for other cultures’
Is he also referring to the EU? As since the PL has been in office we did not give a good impression to the EU especially with the citizenship issue.
Manwel Xinhua u Silvio Minhuwa
An interesting article on the subject of China and perceptions: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140168/john-pomfret/in-search-of-the-real-china?cid=soc-facebook-in-review_essays-in_search_of_the_real_china-120213
Of particular interest and relevance for the post is the following:
“Beijing still invests a huge amount of energy — and now capital — in molding Western perceptions of China. (Estimates for the build-out of China’s media operations overseas hover well over $200 million.)”
Makes you wonder just how ignorant Labour leaders have to be to stop short at seeing in China only what the Chinese Communists want them to see and taking everything at face value.