Front row, Yong (sixth right) presents a souvenir to Wang while Tiong (fifth right), Wong (fourth right), KKJA vice chairman Peter Kwan (third right), Han (fifth left) and others look on.
KOTA KINABALU: The natural beauty of Sabah surpasses that of other famous islands in Southeast Asia, such as Bali and Phuket.
Han Lin, executive vice director of Overseas Communication Centre of Xinhuanet Co. Ltd, said many China nationals were unfamiliar with Sabah.
“There are a lot of famous islands in Southeast Asia, like Bali or Phuket, but the natural beauty of Sabah surpasses those destinations, albeit having more basic facilities.”
Nonetheless, he believed that tourism facilities would improve as Chinese tourist arrivals have taken off in the past few years.
Han said this during a dialogue between a media delegation from ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) with the Kota Kinabalu Journalists Association (KKJA) here, yesterday.
The delegation, led by ACC Information and Public Relations Division deputy director Wang Zhiquan, is on a visit to Sabah and Kuala Lumpur under arrangement by the Embassy of Malaysia in China.
The delegates represented various media firms, namely People.com, Xinhuanet.com, Hanqiu.com, China Report, 21st Century Business Herald, Anhui Radio and Television, and The World & Chongqing magazine.
The Chinese media delegates also looked forward to collaborating with local dailies in news coverage.
Han said sharing Sabah news with the Chinese news agencies would ensure more accurate reporting on the local perspective, adding that Xinhua was also happy to share its news with the local dailies in the state.
Meanwhile, KKJA chairman Yong Ted Phen said there was much to learn from the Chinese media agencies, in terms of the speed, reach and integration of digital media in news reporting and dissemination.
“The dialogue session has certainly opened our eyes as to how the large news organizations operate.
“For instance, Xinhua produces an astounding 15,000 news reports a day.
“Xinhua’s news are also read by people from over 200 countries and regions,” he said.
Yong also briefed the media delegation on the background of local dailies in Sabah and the shift towards digital media in news reporting.
Also present were KTS Trading Sdn Bhd area operations manager Wong Kee Mee, Asia Times executive director Tiong Jia Yee, representatives from Overseas Chinese Daily News, Sin Chew Daily News and Merdeka Daily.