BEIJING, June 27 — Malaysia and China have agreed to intensify media cooperation in terms of information, talent and programme exchange between both nations at a government-to-government level.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was expected to be drafted to facilitate the collaboration, said Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister Datuk Jailani Johari.

He was speaking to Malaysian journalists here after paying a courtesy call on his Chinese counterpart, Minister for Information Office of the Chinese State Council, Cai Mingzhao, here, Friday.

Meanwhile, Huang Chuanfang, deputy editor-in-chief of China’s state broadcaster CCTV, hoped first-hand official information would be obtained through the establishment of cooperation with Malaysian government agency, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM).

He cited the coverage of the missing flight MH370, where the TV station had no alternative but to use footages from foreign agencies, which he described the perspectives as much different with either Malaysia’s or China’s.

“If there had been a collaboration agreement with RTM, the news coverage of the incident could have been different,” Huang said during a meeting with Jailani.

However, Huang reiterated that CCTV as a state-own broadcaster would put bilateral relations between China and Malaysia in top spot when reporting on the missing airliner.

He said collaboration between CCTV and RTM would not be limited to the coverage of MH370, but to include issues on economic and trade cooperation, as well as culture between two peoples.

Jailani, who also heads the Liaison, Communication and Media Committee on the search-and-rescue (SAR) mission for the missing airliner and his delegation arrived here yesterday for a two-day visit.

The trip is aimed at establishing a media communication channel between Malaysia and China to ensure improved flow of information on various issues, including the missing flight MH370.

Yesterday, during his meeting with Ren Qian, the deputy editor of China Radio International (CRI), a state-run radio station, Jailani expressed hope that the local Chinese would have a better understanding of the latest developments on the MH370 issue through cooperation with the Chinese media, including the exchange of officers, programmes and information between the Malaysian and Chinese media.

He also hoped the Chinese people would obtain information on the missing aircraft as soon as possible through cooperation with the Malaysian media.

The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) has been working with CRI to jointly produce and exchange radio programmes and multimedia contents in Bahasa Malaysia since 2009. — Bernama