The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Tong Defa, has appealed to the Ghanaian media to be circumspect in their reportage by not generalising offences committed by individual Chinese citizens. 

He admitted that although pockets of offences were committed by some few Chinese citizens in Ghana, most of them were law-abiding and therefore did not take the hospitability of Ghanaians for granted.  

Generalising such incidences to the entire Chinese population, he said, was unfair and could endanger the lives of other law-abiding Chinese. 

“Like the other day, there was a local news report, announcing an incident involving the construction of a road. There was the use of explosives, and some people got hurt and accidentally there were some Chinese on site and some local people saw them and claimed it was a Chinese company. 

“So, some Chinese went to eat, and their cell phones got stolen. Luckily, the police were on site and saw it and told them it was not a Chinese company, but the media reportage said it was Chinese,” the Ambassador said. 

Mr Defa said this when he paid a courtesy call to the General Manager of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Albert Kofi Owusu, in Accra, on Wednesday. 

The call was to strengthen relations between the Chinese in Ghana and the GNA for mutual benefit. 

Mr Defa said most Chinese in Ghana were desirous of contributing to the economic development of the country through creation.

“We have a lot of Chinese and Chinese communities who are doing quite well here. I encourage them, sometimes to speak to the media.  

“They should let them know what they are here because they do a lot of social programmes, they tell me, especially some Chinese businesses, they donate to young children who are schooling, they do a lot of welfare jobs for the local people,” he stressed. 

He lauded Ghana-China relations which, he said, had been elevated to strategic partnership, and pledged to ensure stronger bilateral cooperation between the two countries under his tenure. 

He also encouraged media reportage that would strengthen the ties between the two countries and spur them towards achieving mutual development. 

Mr Defa also urged the Chinese community in Ghana to continue to respect to ensure harmony between Ghana and China. 

Mr Owusu stressed the need for a stronger working relationship between the GNA and the Chinese Embassy for mutual benefit 

He said as a state-funded media organisation, the GNA's major role was to produce credible news that spurred the growth of Ghana and her allies. 

 “GNA is a state-owned media organisation and ours is to promote the bilateral relations between Ghana and other countries such as yours (China), and as your government and our government work together for the interest of our people, we are also here to promote partnership, “he said. 

Mr Owusu also appealed for training support for the staff of the Agency to enable them to effectively deliver on their mandates. 

Mrs Asamani Savage, the Director of Editorial at the GNA, called for the strengthening of relations between the Agency and the Embassy for cooperation. 

Also present at the meeting were Norbert Asenso, Director of Business Development, Mr George-Ramsey Benamba, Head of Home Desk, and Mr Felix Attukwei Quaye, Acting Head of IT at the GNA.