ASEAN important partner of China in film,TV industry: official

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-24 16:01

NANNING: Ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had become important partners of China in film and television industry, a senior Chinese official said Saturday.

"One third of the foreign TV series China imports are produced by the ASEAN countries," Tian Jin, deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said at a forum of the 6th China-ASEAN Expo held from October 20 to 24 in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"ASEAN is always an important market for Chinese TV products," he said, adding there was still large room for further development and cooperation.

The Chinese government decided to boost its culture industry and formulated specific plans in July, which provided an opportunity for deeper China-ASEAN cooperation in program production, technology application and service trade, he said.

Last April, China and the 10 ASEAN nations reached a series of agreements on China-ASEAN Summit Forum on Radio and Television and vowed to promote radio and television cooperation to push forward the China-ASEAN strategic partnership.

Linda Lee, head of the culture and information division of the ASEAN Secretariat, said that currently the 10 ASEAN states held exchange on TV programs each week, attended by their state media, which would be a platform for cooperation between China and ASEAN.

Zhang Changming, deputy president of China Central Television (CCTV), said Chinese media should explore new fields for cooperation with ASEAN state media. CCTV established cooperation on news service with state media from nine ASEAN countries last year including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia, he said.

Linda Lee also suggested more joint production of TV programs between China and ASEAN, and more exchanges among media personnel including journalists.