With China and ASEAN's combined Internet users exceeding 1.5 billion, the 2025 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum, recently held in Luoyang, Henan province in central China, highlighted how emerging technologies are fundamentally reshaping media landscapes and communication patterns in societies.

At the event themed "Harnessing the Power of AI to Enhance Communication Cooperation in the Region," Du Zhanyuan, president of the China International Communications Group (CICG), urged Chinese and ASEAN media to foster new quality productive forces through AI applications across news production chains.

He also called for pragmatic cooperation in areas such as co-construction of platforms, resource sharing and standardized application to embed "safety genes" into AI.

"AI's profound impact on the global media ecosystem presents both immense opportunities and complex challenges," Shi Zhongjun, secretary general of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), said. "Our focus should be on leveraging this powerful technology to strengthen communication while collaboratively addressing its potential risks."

Guo Weimin, president of China Public Relations Association, said Chinese and ASEAN media should join hands in tapping into opportunities and addressing challenges presented by AI, while emphasizing digital empowerment, journalistic ethics and coordinative governance.

Cambodian Information Ministry's Secretary of State Kem Gunawadh also commented on the dual nature of AI: while boosting productivity, AI brings risks like misinformation and disinformation as well. He added that regional cooperation is essential to counter fake news and looked forward to strengthening cooperation in media production and governance with all stakeholders.

"Media cooperation between ASEAN and China has achieved significant results in recent times," Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Tam said. He called for a stronger and deeper mechanism for regional cooperation — one that would enable jointly developing technologies aligned with the region's cultures, languages and values.

A joint initiative on promoting ASEAN-China media ecosystem governance through the applications of AI technologies was launched at the forum. It is meant to jointly lay the foundation for regional technological governance, uphold regional consensus on the ethics of technology, foster digital transformation, and build an open and inclusive digital ecosystem.

Co-hosted by CICG and ACC, this was the eighth edition of the annual forum since 2018.