China’s Xinhua seeks cooperation with Japan’s Kyodo News amid push to boost views on ties
Chinese news agency chief presses Kyodo counterpart for more exchanges as Beijing aims to improve public opinion on Sino-Japanese relations
Xinhua’s president, Fu Hua, met his Kyodo counterpart Toru Mizutani in Tokyo on Monday. Fu said Beijing was willing to “further strengthen exchanges and cooperation” between China’s official news agency and Kyodo, especially in new media and technology, according to a Xinhua report on Monday.
“As important media organisations in China and Japan, [we] have witnessed and participated in the development of bilateral relations,” Fu said.
“We should jointly work to promote people-to-people exchanges, enhance mutual trust and contribute to the steady and long-term development of China-Japan relations.”
According to Xinhua, Mizutani praised the history of friendly exchanges between the two media organisations and expressed hope that they would strengthen their collaboration, continue to improve exchanges and promote bilateral cooperation to “achieve more fruitful outcomes”.
When Xinhua launched a Japanese language service in 2018, the Chinese news agency announced it would carry content from Kyodo News Digital and Kyodo News Images.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Kyodo had not reported on the meeting in English or Chinese.