Perspectives
by Lia Sciortino
Perspectives
China’s PR Problem Rears Its Head
Johanna Son
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CHIANG MAI, Dec 11 (TerraViva/IPS Asia-Pacific) - Powerful neighbour. A rising power. Old friend. Big, secretive investor. Big boy of the region.
These were some of the terms participants at a talk-show format discussion at the Mekong Media Forum used when asked to share the images of China they get from the media.
Reading Media
Johanna Son
BANGKOK -- Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. What images might these words conjure up in the minds of international consumers of news? Perhaps war, maybe the Khmer Rouge. Or they might say, ‘Oh, it’s that those countries that had that war some time ago. . . they’re near one another, and they’re all the same’.
China: Benign Bully of the Mekong?
Johanna Son
SYDNEY, Oct 3 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Over the last decade or so, China’s deft use of soft power has seen South-east Asian neighbours’ view of it change from a looming threat to a largely friendly, if still imposing, giant to the north.
Mekong Media Roundup
MEKONG REGION: 50% Rise in Trade Seen
BANGKOK - Thailand expects to increase two-way trade value by 50 percent among the member countries of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) if the ACMECS projects to promote trade and investment are successfully completed, said Vichak Visetnoi, deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade Department.
VIETNAM: Border Deal Makes Visit Historic - Cambodian PM
Vietnam and Cambodia’s signing of a supplementary deal to the 1985 border treaty during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Vietnam visit has made his trip a “historical event,” Hun Sen said in a banquet in Hanoi in October.
Chinese Consortium, Myanmar Sign Largest Hydropower Contracts
A Chinese joint venture consortium signed two contracts with the Myanmar electric power authorities in July in Yangon on the implementation of the Yeywa hydropower project, the largest one in Myanmar.
Remote Cambodia Provinces Linking with Laos, Vietnam
Work is underway to incorporate the north-eastern provinces of Rattanakiri, Mondolkiri and Stung Treng into economic partnership with border provinces in Laos and Vietnam, said Sok Siphana, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce.
KUNMING DECLARATION: 'A Stronger Partnership for Common Prosperity'
Second Greater Mekong Subregion Summit/
Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China, 4-5 July 2005
Preamble
1. We, the Heads of Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Union of Myanmar, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, met in Kunming, China for the Second GMS Summit. We were pleased to be joined in our discussions by the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Mekong's Avian Flu
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What's New
Mekong ICT Camp 2010
The Mekong ICT Camp (http://mekongict.org), a biannual training workshop on information, communication, and technologies for citizen media, community health, and civil society practitioners in Mekong subregion, is accepting applications until Mar. 31, 2010. Participants are welcome from the Mekong countries, including Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
COMING SOON: 'TALKING GENDER IN THE MEKONG MEDIA'
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BANGKOK - Do media organisations in the Mekong Region think that gender sensitivity, including giving voices to women, is part of doing better stories? How do they define it within the context of their societies and how do they report on different genders and sexuality? Do they include the use of gender-friendly language in their stylebooks and training programmes? How much is using a gender lens a news habit?