Delegates attend the 4th India-China High Level Media Forum held in Beijing on August 12 (DING ZHITAO)

The development of China-India relations is deeply rooted in the people, originating from their exchanges. And the media has an important role in enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the 4th India-China High Level Media Forum in Beijing on August 12.

Since 2013, the forum, as the largest institutionalized platform between the two countries for media exchanges, has paved the way for mutual understanding and become an important link for China-India cultural cooperation.

The forum, organized by the China Public Diplomacy Association and sponsored by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and India’s Ministry of External Affairs this year, had three sub-forums, focusing on promoting mutual trust in political and economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and cooperation through new media platforms. Media personnel, experts, scholars and diplomats from both countries took part in the exchanges.

Wang also called for strengthening media exchanges and cooperation to contribute to the bilateral cooperation.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said at the event, as two of the largest and fastest-growing developing countries, a stable and balanced development of bilateral relations will not only benefit the people of the two countries but will also be “a factor of stability in this uncertain global environment.”

“Our two countries have similar goals in terms of providing better opportunities for our peoples,” he said.

Liu Zhonghua, a senior editor of People’s Daily, said there should be more exchanges among journalists from the two countries and they should report on each other’s articles in a faithful and objective manner. The forms of media exchanges should be innovated with more attention given to new media platforms as China has 800 million Internet users and India has 500 million.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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