BEIJING -- A university professor here has cited people-to-people communication as one of the key factors that could further enhance Philippine-Chinese relations.
In his lecture to participants of the 2018 Seminar for Information Officers and Journalists from the Philippines held at the Beijing Xijiao Hotel on Sunday, Dr. Wu Jie Wei, a professor in Peking University, specifically mentioned what Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai stated that "China’s diplomacy is a combination of official, semi-official and non-governmental diplomacy."
Wu, in his presentation, quoted Premier Zhou’s statement that “friendship which derives from close contact between the people, holds the key to sound state-to-state relations and civil diplomacy between China and Southeast Asia (and) is an important part of China’s non-governmental diplomacy.“
The Beijing professor also said that people-to-people communication between China and the Philippines has yielded positive results in various fields, such as culture, youth, tourism and personnel exchanges.
Wu further suggested ways to strengthen people-to-people communication between the two countries, such as by organizing Filipino-Sino youth camp and increasing the Chinese government’s scholarship quota for short-term projects for Filipino students.
Wu also recommended the establishment of a “Sino-Philippine Friendship Contribution Award”, which he said is an effective way of combining government and public diplomacies that enjoy wide application in international relations.
He also suggested the enhancement of communication with the Philippine mainstream media.
“By communicating with the Filipino media, the operation mode of Filipino media can be understood, and the penetration into the understanding of Philippine society through the Filipino media so as to achieve the comprehensive mastery of the Filipino social opinion situation, thus, provide effective route to optimizing China image,” Wu said.
He added that the mutual understanding of the Philippines and China could improve through the promotion of products of both countries, as well as the hosting of film and food festivals. (PNA)
