On 8 June I took part in the program of CCTV.
After a long wait it finally came out on 4 July 2016:
CCTV
Title: “Future of China-Australia ties”
It was a Dialogue special in which CCTV joined forces with Australia’s Sky News for a panel debate on the Sino-Australian relationship. Two hosts: Yang Rui (CCTV) and James Middleton (Sky News Australia)
Four Chinese debaters:
- Sr. Colonel Zhou Bo, Director, Center for International Security Cooperation, MND
- Prof. Zhu Feng, Executive Director, China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea, Nanjing University
- Prof. Zhu Ning, Deputy Director, Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Charles Liu, Founder & CEO, Hao Capital
And four Australian debaters:
- Professor Gary Smith, Vice President, Deakin University
- Professor Greg McCarthy, BHP Billiton Chair of Australian Studies, Peking University
- John Russel, Managing Director, North Head Communications
- Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific Editor, The Australian newspaper
Well, I found the topic pretty sensitive – the issue of the South China Sea – and I thus kept silent. The panel discussion was not well structured in my view. We as part of the “international audience, former politicians and opinion-makers” were supposed to ask questions to the panelists on the stage. It all went in a strange way and our group was barely visible during the near one hour program; we were literally “left in the dark” and I was wondering why we were even there.
OK it was fun entering for the first time in the new CCTV building (ground floor only) but I have had much better experiences with CCTV in the past.
And yes I am still a lousy selfie taker! See the views of and from around the CCTV tower.