'Anadolu Agency should hire more staff in China'

By Hanife Sevinc

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey’s ambassador in Beijing requested Monday an increase in the number of Anadolu Agency employees in China.

“We see it important to increase the number of the media team of Anadolu Agency in China, and to hire Chinese personnel if necessary,” Abdulkadir Emin Onen said during a visit to Director General of Anadolu Agency Senol Kazanci in Istanbul.

Stating it was important to follow a nation from its own local resources and in the target language, Onen added that Chinese people sometimes follow Western-origin news about Turkey and this would mislead them from time to time.

“We need to read about what happens in China through our own resources,” Onen said, and advised the agency should have personnel not only in Beijing but also in Shanghai, the largest city of China.

“The two brotherly countries from the west-end and east-end of Asia, Turkey and China will sign many mutual investments with Belt and Road Initiative,” he noted.

The project aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar through roads, railways and pipelines to transport cargo, oil and gas.

“Turkey is already supporting this initiative concretely through the Middle Corridor project,” Onen said.

The Middle Corridor Initiative starts from Turkey to Georgia and Azerbaijan via railway and continues through the Caspian Sea via a ferry to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, passing through other Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan, Pakistan and reaches China, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry.