According to a Sino-Italian news app, on December 15, the head of China Media Group, Shen Haixiong, gave an exclusive interview to TGCOM 24, a channel owned by Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, ‎Mediaset S.p.A.‎

When asked whether Chinese and Western media were covering the events in Hong Kong in an unbiased and objective manner, Shen Haixiong replied that some Western broadcasters are “going too far” in their reporting of the situation, clearly favoring one side over the other.

“For example, they don’t show you young people picking fights with the police or other citizens. They only show the police responding to that, and then make claims about police violence. Hong Kong has rule of law – why would the police intentionally beat up students?!” said Shen Haixiong. 

“The fact is, these young people started breaking the law first. Now, the protests in Hong Kong are gradually simmering down. Throughout this process, the central government has been adhering strictly to the ‘one country, two systems’ principle,” said the China Media Group president.

“At the same time, I believe that the discontent exhibited by some of the Hong Kong youth is a clear sign of the social extremes characteristic of capitalism and the gap between the rich and the poor. Why does Shenzhen, which is right next to Hong Kong, keep developing splendidly and boast an even bigger GDP than Hong Kong?” Shen Haixiong asked, adding that “these are the advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

“The events in Hong Kong helped all of continental China recognize even more fully that they should appreciate the current social structure, value the existing conditions for development, work hard and take care of the economy, building confidence in what they are capable of achieving on their own,” said the head of China Media Group.

In his opinion, “what is happening in Hong Kong is bad, but if we look at the people living in the continental part of China, their sense of unity and solidarity has only grown stronger.”