Recently, entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President ZHONG led his team to conduct a survey on the development of South Pacific Island Areas, which caught the attention of local media. ZHOU Fangyin, the Director of the Strategic Research Center for Pacific Island Countries, ZHANG Minglei from the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, as well as CHEN Hanxi, Deputy Secretary-General of Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, accompanied President ZHONG on this visit.

On December 8th, the delegate arrived in Samoa, the first stop for the survey. InSamoa, they first visited the major local media, Samoa Observer. They communicated and exchanged ideas with Savea Sano Malifa, editor-in-chief and Mata`afa Keni Lesa, vice editor-in-chief.

President ZHONG hoped to learn about the local development through the media and pay close attention to the help that China is able to offer when Samoa is faced with challenges during its development. ZHOU warmly praised the local beautiful natural scenery and peaceful life and also expressed his hope that China could help actualize the coordinated development of Samoa’s economic advancement and its environmental protection. Savea indicated that the friendship between China and Samoa was well-established and long standing and that Samoa had received sustained assistance from China in the process of its development. But Savea also said that the influx of Chinese enterprises to Samoa had exerted pressures on local markets. Afterwards, both parties had a deep exchange of the problems, like education, poverty, street-traders, unemployment of Samoa, and so on.

On the next stop, the delegate are going to visit the local government and enterprise representatives and then proceed to the Kingdom of Tonga for the survey.