Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

AN opinion piece submitted by the Shenzhen Daily won the third-place honor at the 2016 Guangdong Provincial Press Awards, according to an announcement made by the organizers, Guangdong Journalism Association and Guangdong Press Institute, on Monday.

The commentary, “Manila needs balanced foreign policy,” written by Winton Dong, editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily, was published on the newspaper’s Opinion Page on July 11, 2016, one day before the arbitral tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague announced its ruling on a case concerning the South China Sea, which was unilaterally raised by the Philippines.

The commentary clearly elaborates on China’s firm position of not participating in or accepting the arbitration since the issue raised by Manila is related to national sovereignty and maritime delimitation, which is beyond the tribunal’s jurisdiction. It criticizes the antagonistic and strongman foreign policy toward China carried out by then Philippine President Benigno Aquino III after he took office.

It points out that the new president Rodrigo Duterte would take pragmatic measures to solve the South China Sea dispute. It was a timely commentary with an accurate analysis. Months since the opinion piece was published, the Sino-Philippine relationship has improved.

The “ruling about the South China Sea” was a topic of widespread concern in the international community in 2016. Western media made a lot of biased reports against China, so the commentary attracted the attention of the Shenzhen Daily’s target readers and was reprinted by International Daily News in Indonesia.

The annual event gave awards for 304 entries culled from submissions by Guangdong Province media, including newspapers, television stations, radio stations and websites. Forty entries won first-place prizes, 88 entries won second-place prizes and 166 entries won third-place prizes.