The Hong Kong Ming Pao carried an article written by
Ouyang Wu on November 13 saying that the 2008 Beijing Olympics and China have drawn lots
of attention from the world and China is becoming more and more
open to the picky magnifying glasses of the international
media.
According to the article, only history can show how much
political legacy the 17th Party Congress will leave. But the
congress has changed China's attitude towards the foreign
press -- both stealthily and shockingly.
For the first time, usage of "informatization and taking both
the domestic and international situations into consideration"
increased in Hu Jintao's report at the Congress, which
suggests that China is getting a better understanding of the
world.
The article said that the foreign media felt impressed by the
"comfortable" and open news service provided during the 17th Party
Congress. They received invitations to cover the Beijing Olympics
while still praising the news service. And now the "news war" of
the Beijing Olympics has already begun. The Beijing Olympics,
China's economy, politics and democracy have all drawn much
international attention.
The world cannot simply neglect China. As the world's
third-largest economy, third-largest trader, China holds the
largest forex reserve in the world and ranks the second in
contributions to global GDP growth.
Without doubt China is facing the world; the country has the
most Asian offices for international media. More journalists than
ever before covered the 17th National Party Congress and 30,000
registered and non-registered journalists will certainly report
every detail about the Olympics to the world.
The author believes that China has learned from the Party
congress' open coverage many tips how to manage the Olympic news.
In this way overseas journalists now have the chance to cover key
issues; Olympics preparations, Olympics food safety, Olympics
security and so on.
These changes indicate that China is learning to treat the
international media kindly, says the article. We can see from the
regulations for foreign media regarding the Olympics coverage, the
Olympics preparation press releases and the improved spokesman
system that China is rapidly becoming more and more confident while
facing international scrutiny.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, November 15, 2007)