According to a senior media executive from Kenya, the country is enthusiastic about more Chinese investment in culture and education, which, alongside investment in infrastructure, can help tackle the problem of terrorism in the region.

“The key thing for China to do is invest more in the education and culture of Kenya since much of the current investment is in infrastructure and energy. By investing in the culture I mean helping people to live, and also understanding other cultures so that we don’t see other tribes as enemies,” said Tom Mshindi, editor-in-chief of the Nation Media Group in Kenya.

Mshindi spoke with People’s Daily Online in an exclusive interview on the sideline of the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road, which opened on July 26 in Beijing.

The problem, according to Mshindi, is that terrorism usually comes out of poverty. He noted that countries must work to guarantee public access to national resources including education.

“China can come in with resources to help with educational programs, cultural programs, particularly in the areas of creativity, art and dramatization,” he added.

It is already widely recognized in Kenya that China plays a big role in many people’s daily lives, Mshindi said, referring to the $365-billion Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway project as an example.

“It is seen as the biggest program that has been done in that country for the last 50 years. And we expect to see a lot of development...once you open up the country that way,” he said.

Meanwhile, despite being one of the trading hub on the Belt and Road Initiative, which Mshindi called “one of the world’s most ambitious projects,” most people in Kenya are unfamiliar with the initiative.

“From the media perspective, I think both the Chinese and [Kenyans] have failed because neither of us discussed this topic on our platforms, such as newspapers, televisions and broadcasts. So I think media should play a bigger role...because media is the connecting thread, the one that bridges between cultures and people, and it’s able to tell the story. Media is to explain to the world what the initiative is, what it means, what is in this initiative and ways [that it will function],” he noted.