The Embassy of China Counselor Cheng Jun paid a courtesy visit to the Samoa Observer on Tuesday.

The senior diplomat, who was accompanied to the newspaper by the Embassy’s Third Secretary Zhang Muyue, took up his appointment two months ago.

He previously served at the People’s Republic of China Mission in New York U.S. as well as South Africa before getting posted to Apia.

Mr Jun and Ms Muyue met with the Samoa Observer Publisher Muliaga Jean Malifa and Editors Renate Rivers, James Robertson and Alexander Rheeney at the newspaper’s Vaitele Headquarters.

During discussions with the newspaper’s management team, the diplomat said he follows the newspaper’s coverage on national issues closely, and is looking forward to establishing cordial relations between the Embassy and the Samoa Observer.

Muliaga welcomed Mr Jun and Ms Muyue to the newspaper and said they looked forward to working together for the betterment of both countries and their people.

Mr Jun then briefly talked about his role at the Embassy as well as their areas of focus, which included agriculture and the potential diversification of Samoa’s exports as well as the impact of high shipping cost.

On the education front, he said they are in discussions with the local authorities on support for three primary schools on top of scholarships which are awarded annually to Samoans, but was suspended last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are also visits to China organised by the Embassy for local journalists, which the diplomat said gave the media the opportunity to see his country and hopes can be revived after the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Jun then toured the lobby of the newspaper’s head office – which displayed the 43-year-old first edition of the Samoa Observer and the typewriter that the Chief Editor Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa first used – when he and Muliaga first established the newspaper in 1978.