RISHON LEZION, Israel (Press Release) — The opening of a weibo micro-blogging account by President of Israel Shimon Peres highlights the emergence of the new media and the importance of public opinion in China’s dynamic information environment. The commercialization of the media in China and the rise of the Internet created an information-hungry, technology-savvy public that knows how to get the news it needs.
According to Alex Pevzner, Director of the new Chinese Media Center at the School of Media Studies, the College of Management – Academic Studies: “In recent years China’s interest in cooperation with Israel has undergone a qualitative change. China started to express interest not only in Israel’s products but also in Israel’s innovation in itself. While bilateral trade has increased in recent years and China became Israel’s third-largest partner, the lack of a wide manufacturing base in Israel means there’s a limit to what Israel can export to China in the short term.
However, there is one thing that is not in shortage in Israel, and that is ideas. Herein lies the opportunity to expand even further the bilateral cooperation. That is also why more and more Chinese investors are coming to Israel – not to buy a product but to invest in ideas, in Israel’s way of thinking, in Israeli technology. It is key for Israel that the perception about doing business with Israel remains positive. Herein lines one of the most important reasons to proactively communicate with the Chinese people.
Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese media is open to to almost all topics, particularly non-political content. The Chinese media is highly interested in Israel strengths in fields of importance to China, such as food security and agri-tech, high-tech, clean energy and med-tech.
With the world’s largest media–1.4 billion Chinese speakers world-wide, it behooves Israel to utilize every mode of communications possible with the
Chinese to maintain the positive attitudes about Israel already present in China–including reaching out to the 300 million Chinese weibo
micro-blogging users.”
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Preceding provided by the College of Management and Academic Studies