ASEAN-China Cooperation: Vietnam Proposes Vision for Responsible Digital Journalism

According to a Vietnam News Agency reporter in China, the ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum 2025 officially opened on May 25 in Henan province (China).

The forum was attended by more than 150 delegates from national press agencies, research organizations, media technology companies and government representatives from ASEAN countries and China. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Tam.

The ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum 2025 is a prestigious annual dialogue event, bringing together senior representatives from media agencies, ministries and academic institutions of China and 10 ASEAN countries.

In the context of increasingly complex global information competition, the Forum focuses on promoting cooperation in key areas such as Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), joint content production and digital media platform development, outstanding initiatives for a common future.

One of the important highlights at this year's Forum is the announcement of the ASEAN-China Media Initiative with four major goals: Promoting two-way media connectivity, enhancing journalism training and exchanges, cooperating in Digital Transformation and new technologies such as AI, Big Data, and building a network of regional media partners.

Speaking at the Forum, Chinese delegates shared a model of harmoniously combining tradition and modern technology in content development, while ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, emphasized protecting cultural identity and preventing fake news.

The forum encourages joint content production such as documentaries, bilingual TV shows, regular ASEAN-China news bulletins, and the application of modern technologies such as 5G, 4K/8K TV, and blockchain to protect media copyright.

According to Secretary General of the China-ASEAN Center Shi Zhongjun, the theme of this year's Forum is to harness the power of AI to enhance media cooperation in the region.

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, AI has become a force that is transforming and reshaping industries, including media, at an unprecedented pace.

AI's profound impact on the global media ecosystem presents both enormous opportunities and complex challenges.

The focus for China and ASEAN is to leverage this powerful technology to enhance communication while jointly addressing potential risks that arise.

In the digital age, one area that needs special attention is fake news.

Nowadays, fake news can be easily created and spread rapidly, eroding public trust and weakening relationships and cooperation between countries.

Mr. Su Trung Tuan said that a number of ministers in charge of information and communications as well as heads of mainstream media agencies in ASEAN countries have expressed concerns about this issue and hope for cooperation between ASEAN and China in resolving the emerging challenges.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Tam speaks at the Forum. (Photo: Cong Tuyen/VNA)

At the plenary session on Digital Transformation and AI in journalism, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam, Mr. Phan Tam, gave a profound speech, emphasizing the importance of applying AI responsibly, in line with professional ethics and social benefits.

Deputy Minister Phan Tam emphasized that AI must serve humans and social values, not replace them. In Vietnam's press system, AI is considered a tool to support journalists, not to replace professional responsibility or judgment.

Vietnam has deployed many solutions using AI in journalism such as automatic editing, analyzing public opinion trends, verifying information, etc., always placing these activities within a strict legal and ethical framework.

In particular, Deputy Minister Phan Tam proposed three urgent reasons for strengthening regional cooperation such as similarities in the need for Digital Transformation of journalism according to regional socio-cultural practices; reducing the gap in technology and resources among press agencies, especially supporting small and medium-sized newsrooms; and handling ethical and legal issues of AI through a common cooperation mechanism.

Deputy Minister Phan Tam affirmed that no country can handle all the challenges posed by AI on its own. Countries need to work together to build an ethical framework, code of conduct, and an AI-based information verification system.

The Deputy Minister also called for practical cooperation through joint training, development of smart newsroom support tools, and building a regional information verification platform using Big Data.

Affirming that media cooperation between ASEAN and China has achieved many important results in recent times, Deputy Minister Phan Tam believes that in the new period, the two sides can completely expand cooperation to the field of AI in journalism - as a strategic pillar, contributing to building a regional information community with technological capacity, ethical foundation and positive voice in the global media space.

Vietnam affirms its commitment to continue to closely accompany ASEAN partners and China in this direction, in the spirit of cooperation, responsibility and mutual respect.

The ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum 2025 concluded in a spirit of close cooperation and high consensus, opening up a strategic direction in building a sustainable, safe and identity-rich East Asia-Southeast Asia media space.

Within the framework of the event, there were exhibitions of new media technology, bilateral cooperation networking sessions and memorandum signing ceremonies between a number of regional press agencies, as well as thematic discussion sessions…/.