China-Africa Media Cooperation: Irreversible Journey.

By: Mweusi Karake

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, so goes a Chinese proverb. October 10th was 20th Anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), so much has been said and written about FOCAC, it is difficult to say anything new; never the less one small branch of FOCAC has been given little attention: the China-Africa Media Cooperation, to be celebrated this year on November 17th under the theme: “China-Africa Media Cooperation in the digital era” China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum 2020, will be hosted in Kenya which has one of the most vibrant media in Africa. Nairobi also hosts one of China’s biggest television networks- CGTN. According to Victor Bwire of the Nairobi based Standard news paper, “The strides made by the media towards building a knowledge society in Africa and China will be assessed as the country hosts the High-Level China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum 2020, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The focus of the meeting will be on the impact of digitization on journalistic practice and regulatory issues in the media industry and how this has been navigated to improve media contribution in national development and improving professionalism in content creation. Kenya was chosen to host the high level meeting because Kenyan media is on top level of Africa, with many vigorous and innovative media houses and high-level professionals”. Set up under the framework agreements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2012, the media forum is held every two years in either China or Africa aiming to strengthen cooperation in the media sector and enhance China-Africa ties. From my personal experience, the Chinese don’t take cooperation for granted no matter how modest Two decades ago, working as a Public Relations Officer, at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), headquartered in Lusaka-Zambia; part of my job included media relations, so I did my best to be friends with journalist. Among those who became my friends, were journalists of Xinhua News Agency. I took them seriously mainly due to the fact that, this was one international media outlet which took our stories seriously. No meeting, no press conference by COMESA was too small for them. COMESA was after all the biggest Economic Grouping on the Africa continent. And as a result, if I failed to get through their office line, I physically dropped an invitation, and even took pain to write a brief background to the subject; especially if the journalist happens to be new. I made those efforts because; I knew they would publish the story. They took African positive stories seriously. Unlike western media, they did believe Africa news have to be only bad news. From my friendship with Xinhua News Agency, I also developed bonds with the political department of the Chinese embassy, the young men and women (I don’t know why that department’s staff were always young) working in that department counted on me whenever they needed information. They would call any time and often walked into my office unannounced. These impromptu visits were friendly, after all they were helping me do my job. Surprisingly, they did not take my services for granted, so one day, one of the young men from the political department dropped into my office and told that the first counselor from the Chinese embassy would like to have a dinner with me and if possible I should come with my wife! I accepted the invitation for three reasons: The first one was that I was curious as to why the number two of this powerful embassy would want to share a dinner with a small PR guy, if he wanted to influence COMESA he would have invited COMESA’s no 2, the Assistant Secretary general; or at least the director of Trade. Secondly, I enjoy Chinese food and particularly the sizzling dishes, and on several Sunday’s my family and I took lunch at one of the several Chinese restaurants dotted in Lusaka. Thirdly, declining would have required an excuse, which I would have had to fabricate. I don’t enjoy telling lies. One thing I have learnt about Chinese over the years is their respect for protocols. If a Chinese official invites you and asks you to come with your wife, it goes without saying that he too will come with his. The dinner was delicious and he did not makes speeches as to what I owed that invitation. Over the dinner the senior diplomat asked me casually whether I had ever been to China, I answered in the negative. He asked me whether I would like to. I answered in the positive adding that, I had been to the US, had been to a Number of European countries, many African countries, but had never been to any Asian country. The discussion ended there. Few months later, August 2003, a letter landed in the office of COMESA secretary general, informing him that there was a 3 weeks course entitled “ Understanding modern China for African diplomats”, requesting COMESA for a participant, adding that if COMESA has no objection, my nomination would be appreciated. COMESA had no objection and in September 2003, I joined my SADC counterpart and several foreign affairs staff from different African countries. My three weeks in China, one of which was spent at the China foreign affairs university was an eye opener; if need be I will dedicate a separate article on it. Suffice to say that I was positively shocked. My entire life view about China were based on what western media and cinemas feed us with. Even my high school geography syllabus, which made Africa geography compulsory, and gave an alternative between North America and China, did not leave me any better educated. My school had opted on behalf of all students to study North America. To many Africans including, University graduates like me, had a stereo type opinion about China: short people whose only achievement was karate. In Africa every one with East Asian features is assumed to be Chinese! Even the 1949 Chinese revolution was not taught in schools. So the first surprise was the level of development, the roads infrastructure, the friendliness of the Chinese traders, in markets and shops, willing to bargain with a smile reminding me of another Chinese proverb I had come across as a young man. “A person without a smile should never open a shop”. As I pointed out earlier, my trip to China will be a story for another day, I can however, sum up my impression in two messages I brought back. One to my son, who had harbored ambitions of being an engineer. I told him “if I had been to China before you went to university, for sure China would have been your university destination. Another one to my boss, the COMESA Secretary General I told him, “boss go to China and have a look for yourself, for no matter how a good a story teller I might be, I will not tell you the full story. Go see yourself”. My son did not go to a Chinese university but my boss did visit China shortly afterward. Since then my interest in China, has never gone into a reverse gear. My first visit to USA ten years before China had not impressed me much. Not because US is not developed but because my view of US was based in the inflated versions engraved in my brain by Hollywood. China like the proverb of a journey of a thousand miles, takes global issues step by step. On top of Xinhua News Agency, China came up with CCTV NEWS an English language news channel of China Central Television (CCTV) CCTV News purpose was to strengthen news coverage in Africa, to promote communication and cooperation between China and African countries on politics, economy, trade and culture. CCTV Africa would be responsible for news-gathering and task assignments on the African continent. CCTV Africa produced two and half-hours news programs every weekday, broadcast through CCTV’s English news channel. It was for both the African audience as well as the Chinese one. In case of China it sought to provide a platform for its Chinese audience to better understand Africa and promote the China-Africa friendship so that, “the real China can be introduced to Africa, and the real Africa can be presented to the world”. CCTV had one small weakness though, the journalists were predominantly Chinese, and China was quick to notice that. It upgraded CCTV to what is known today as China Global Television Network (CGTN). CGTN Africa, has more Africa news than any other TV network, even more than African televisions that tend to focus on local news or reproduce what has been aired on western media. Since it was launched in 2012 in Nairobi, CGTN, has produced a number of localized news programs for the African people while presenting a diversified Africa to the world. But even more importantly, CGTN Africa news anchors are primarily Africans, which makes the African audience identify itself with the presenters. CGTN is now a 24 news channels. In addition and taking into consideration the diversity factor, CGTN has now an equally 24 hour’s French channel. To crown it all CGTN, is Free-to-air, meaning that even poor households can access it. It is therefore clear that CGTN plays a vital role in promoting China-Africa Media Cooperation and a shared future.

Mweusi Karake is a veteran journalist and former head of Public Relations/Corporate Communication at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

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