By: Haja Hawa Koroma
At the launch of the Chinese embassy third information salon conference, the Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhanliang has admonished Sierra Leone and China not to tolerate rumors, slander and fake news to affect the relationship and political experiences between and among nations.
“We should not tolerate rumors, slander and fake news and must endeavor not to allow any individual to ruin this cooperation out of domestic political experiences”, Amb Hu urges.
The launch was held on Wednesday 8th June 2022 at China House with representatives from the four Sierra Leone- China Friendship Organizations.
The embassy also invited Media friends to share information with the public on hot trending topics and also to enlighten the general public on some of the activities and benefits that Sierra Leone is enjoying from the mutual friendship between the Chinese Government and the Sierra Leone Government.
His Excellency Ambassador Hu Zhangliang delivered an excellent keynote address in which he carefully explained some of the activities that the People’s Republic of China has been engaging in throughout the years with the Government of Sierra Leone, what they stand for on the global stage and also the ideologies of the People’s Republic of China.
In his statement he said that China has always stood on the right side of history and on the side of international equity and justice. China has throughout the years chosen cooperation over confrontation, openness over isolation, mutual benefits and China opposes all kinds of unilateral sanctions and jurisdictions. They have been working with all Islamic countries and people in the World to keep the peace and to keep the promise of human development towards the future.
He added that, although some other countries have reached a new stage of economic and social development whiles others mindset is small as they are busy building small yards with high walls or parallel systems and implementing irresponsible economic and monitoring policies.
He further stated that both nations should make every effort to maintain the China-Sierra Leone Friendship and vigorously enhance China cooperation in order to achieve common developments. He also said that, we should not tolerate rumors, slander and fake news and must endeavor not to allow any individual to ruin this cooperation out of domestic political experiences.
The Ambassador believes that with joint efforts from all the Islamic countries and with a continued Sierra Leone and China friendship they will be partners in pursuing common development and make greater contributions to national Justice.
The Chairman of the Sierra Leone China Friendship Society, Hon. Hindolo Gevao, in his statement mentioned that one of their duties is to defend the good name of the China Friendship against any negative publication. He added that, as a country the government has abolished Part 5 of the Public Order Act and thus their society believes in press freedom and being that both governments shares a beneficial friendship ‘Our rights ends where other nations rights begins’ he noted.
He also encourages journalists to fact check their stories before publication as credible reporting is the basis of journalism.
He laid emphasis in publicizing the truth because there has been a false publication where misleading statements were made about the Chinese Government and they had to come together as a team and issue out a press release to rectify the situation.
The Chairperson for the Sierra Leone China Friendship Association, Ms. Onike King stated that, one of the initiaves they’ve embarked on in order to bring China closer to Sierra Leoneans is the introduction of the ‘smol smol Chinese’ initiative. This initiative was launched with five schools in April at China House and it has been a success as these schools are now teaching children the Chinese culture and also the language.
She added that both the children and parents are happy with this project and more parents are advocating for their children to be part of the course.
Ms. Onike King further stated that, they’ll be having a competition between ten primary schools soon so as to encourage them to be more serious with the course.
She mentioned that children were selected for this initiative because they are the future, if every school adopts the Chinese teachings into their school curriculum, by the time those kids grow up they’ll be able to master the Chinese language well. Also, the way to win parents hearts is through their kids and if the parents see that their kids are happy and excited when doing the Chinese course this will help change their narratives towards the Chinese people.
The President of the Sierra Leone China Foundation, Mr. Mohamed Kamara in his speech, gave a brief history of the Sierra Leone- China Friendship that has existed between the two nations since 1971 when the bilateral relationship between them was established. Ever since then, both nations have mutually benefited from this relationship as the Chinese government has helped to build hospitals, construct roads, give scholarships to students who wants to study in China and so much more. According to Mr. Kamara, he mentioned that one of the issues the Chinese government faces is the fact that they don’t usually tell their story and when people don’t tell their stories it gives room for others to tell it for them and sometimes misinterprets their stories and tells them the wrong way.
He added that a lot of Sierra Leoneans only associates the Chinese government to bad things and they don’t speak about all the good they are doing for this nation like the way they help fought the Ebola and the impact they made in combating the Corona Virus disease in the country.
According to her this is because the Chinese are humble and do not go about parroting self-praise.
That’s why these different organizations have started telling their stories on behalf of them. He said that’s why they now engages in sensitizations and travels to different districts to explain and show pictures and videos using big screens to the people in order for them to understand and know the activities of the Chinese government.
President of the Sino- Sierra Leone Alumni Association, Mr. Alhaji Javombo, mentioned that this association is an association of academic students who had gone to China to study and graduated from China and have returned back to Sierra Leone.
He added that they help in information sharing and they help give information to Sierra Leoneans who want to travel to China but doesn’t know anything about the country.
They tell them about the different cities and their qualities, how the Chinese people behave, their culture etc. They also help in translation of messages when Chinese people comes into the country and needs help with that and they also help to educate people who usually write the wrong things about the Chinese especially on the internet, they usually write to educate them on those issues and clarify their misconceptions.
Mr. Hu Aimin, Head of Political Section, Chinese Embassy, gave out a vote of thanks in which he expressed his thanks to the Ambassador and his wife, the different organizations that were present, the Media for their relentless support towards the Chinese government and all the people that attended the event.
