Acting Chief Executive Wong Sio Chak, who heads the government’s security portfolio, said yesterday the government was aware of the “great importance” of media development in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), pledging that the government will continue to support media exchanges, cooperation and innovation in the three-jurisdiction conurbation that comprises nine cities in Guangdong province and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
Wong made the remarks in a speech on behalf of Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On who was unable to attend the First Media Summit of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau GBA in Guangzhou. Chui paid a working visit to Portugal last week.
Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, called for more and better media coverage of the GBA. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Huang highlighted the role of the media in the development of the GBA and called for a favourable media environment to build a first-class international bay area.
Huang stressed the further “strengthening of cultural confidence, national identity and patriotism in media coverage to inspire joint efforts to achieve national rejuvenation.”
Guangdong CPC Committee Secretary Li Xi, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the directors of the central people’s liaison offices in Hong Kong and Macau, Wang Zhimin and Fu Ziying, also delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.
Wong said he expected the GBA media summit to grow into an influential platform for exchanges, cooperation and innovation between the media in the three jurisdictions of the GBA.
Wong urged the area’s media to “use this historic opportunity” of participating in, and promoting the GBA development in the nation’s new era.
He also urged the GBA media to intensify their coverage of the area’s development by focusing on its innovative aspects of modern development coordination among its jurisdictions. Wong also said the objective was for the media from the GBA to enable the whole world to hear China’s voice and feel China’s vitality.
