China News Delegation Visits Papua New Guinea

In late April 2018, a five-member Chinese news delegation organized by the All-China Journalists Association (中華全國新聞工作者協會) conducted the first-ever visit by Chinese media representatives to Papua New Guinea (巴布亞新幾內亞), led by Wang Dongmei (王冬梅), secretary of the association’s secretariat. The delegation included members from China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), Shanghai Broadcasting Network (上海廣播電視台), and Communication University of China (中國傳媒大學). The visit aimed to prepare for coverage of the upcoming APEC summit scheduled for November 2018 in Port Moresby and to establish media cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative framework. The delegation met with local mainstream media, including The Post-Courier (信使郵報) and The National (國民報), as well as the National Broadcasting Corporation (國家廣播公司). Papua New Guinea officials described their preparations for the summit, with “the government providing 800 million kina (approximately 1.6 billion yuan)” for the event, according to local organizers. However, this figure appears questionable when compared to other reported summit costs of approximately $300 million USD. Local media representatives expressed interest in collaborating with Chinese counterparts and covering China-related stories in Papua New Guinea.