Ambassador Fu Ying met with William Lewis, editor-in-chief of Daily Telegraph on 23rd July 2008.

Ambassador Fu updated Mr. Lewis on the measures China has taken to honor its commitments in its application for the Olympics. She noted that the Chinese people are stepping up their preparations for the Olympics and are making enthusiastic efforts to play the role as a good host. The Chinese side will try its best to serve and facilitate foreign media in their coverage of the Games, for instance setting up Olympic newsstands to sell overseas newspaper and magazines.

Ambassador Fu said against the globalization backdrop, the Chinese people are following more and more closely China-related reports in foreign media in the hope to see objective and unbiased reports. But some events that have taken place since the beginning of the year have made many Chinese people dubious of whether western media have any political purposes. Coverage of the earthquake in Sichuan in western media is conducive to improving their image among the Chinese public. She expressed the hope that foreign journalists to cover the Beijing Olympics would be able to look upon the opportunities and challenges confronting China’s development in an across-the-board and objective manner, and refrain from hurting the feelings of the Chinese people who sincerely wish to have a successful Olympics.

Lewis noted at present China’s economy is developing dynamically, people’s lives are being improved remarkably, urbanization and industrialization are being speeded up, and the society is experiencing profound changes. The majority of British public has a favorable impression on China and wishes to see a developed and stronger China, and they also wish to get a better picture of China and learn successful experience. But there are some who have fears and doubts because of lack of knowledge about China, and this is also reflected in the media. Sometimes western media carry harsh comments, but they don’t have political purposes to obstruct China’s development, and moreover different media all have their own features and diversified views. What’s important is that the Chinese side could do more to convey its voice and image to the world and allow British people to learn more about what Chinese people think, and their love for peace, their self respect and self improvement. Chinese views are not necessarily the same as western views, and they do not necessarily approve of each other. But the efforts to express your views so that westerners hear will facilitate a better understanding about China.

Lewis said during the Olympics, Daily Telegraph plans to publish a series of in-depth reports relating to China’s economy, culture, foreign diplomacy, regional differences, folk custom and human habitat, etc, to help the British people to get a clearer picture of China. He expressed hopes to get feedback from Chinese readers, and believed it’s very important for the people of two sides to enhance dialogue and exchanges. He also expressed hopes to cooperate with Chinese media to build a platform for the people of two sides to do real time online debate and to exchange views. He believed this would help the Chinese side to learn more about how the average British people think about China.

Lewis finally wished Beijing Olympics a complete success and expressed his belief that Beijing Olympics will surely be an extraordinary event.

Founded in 1855, Daily Telegraph has the largest circulation in UK, with a daily circulation of 900,000 and a maximum 1.1 million copies. Daily Telegraph has journalist stations in both Beijing and Shanghai.