The state-owned People’s Television Network will soon air Chinese TV series, documentaries, cartoons, and movies translated into Filipino, naming the project as “DreamWorks made in China.”
Making “the Filipino dream a reality,” Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said locals can now watch Chinese-made shows to better understand China, its people, their long history, their rich culture, their daily lives, their endeavors, and their dreams.
“I would rather name the project that we launch as ‘DreamWorks’ made in China,” Zhao said in his speech during the inauguration of the China TV Theater in Makati City.
The launching of China TV Theater, he said, coincides with the recent celebration of the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of China-Philippines diplomatic ties.
“In more than four decades, our two great countries have witnessed robust friendship and growing partnership,” Zhao said.
This development, he said, happened due to President Rodrigo Duterte’s successful state visit to China in October 2016.
“Our bilateral relations have entered into a new era. We are now quickly translating our two leaders’ visions and consensus into ever deepening cooperation,” Zhao said.
He noted that both countries are pursuing the “Three Pillars” of Beijing-Manila relations—political and security cooperation, economic and trade cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges.
“The inauguration today of China TV Theatre will surely add fresh impetus to further build on the Third Pillar,” the Chinese envoy said.
Through the Chinese shows on PTV4, Zhao said Filipinos can now share to their fellow citizens the stories about how China became a fast-growing economy.
“You could share the stories about how our reform and opening up in the past 40 years have helped realize a steady economic growth of China and better off the well-beings [sic] of its people,” the envoy said.
“Reform and opening up really represented a strategic move to mobilize each and every Chinese striving for his or her personal happiness, for his or her family welfare, and for his or her national development. This is the Chinese Dream,” Zhao said.
He also cited Duterte’s statement about every Filipino’s dream to have a comfortable life.
“The Philippines has nurtured the dream of a comfortable life for her citizens, a society where there are opportunities for all. We are now slowly making the Filipino dream a reality,” Duterte said.
Zhao said China will help the Philippines fulfill the Filipino dream.
“Please stay assured, in this grand cause, [that] China was, is and will always be standing together with the Philippines as friend and partner, in realizing the dream of the Philippines,” he said.
Zhao said he looks forward to China TV Theatre serving as a “grain of sand” for the Philippines that would “grasp a panoramic view of China and, more importantly, to get inspired in the joint endeavor.”
This would “turn our dreams into realities, steady national economic growth, improved people’s livelihood, and secured regional peace and prosperity, while always bearing in mind that the key to the infinite future of China-Philippines partnership always lies in the palms of our hands,” he said.