Italpress Signs Deal with Xinhua

On December 17, 2025, Italian news agency Italpress signed a cooperation agreement with Xinhua, China’s state news agency, a ministerial-level body operating under China’s State Council and the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda apparatus. The two agencies signed the deal at a media and think tank forum in Rome, which Xinhua’s European Regional Office organized with support from the Chinese Embassy in Italy. Neither Italpress nor Xinhua has published the text of the agreement, though Italpress has since created a dedicated “Xinhua” section on its website, republishing Xinhua-produced articles on Chinese politics, technology, and diplomacy, translated into English, as its own coverage. Italpress director Gaspare Borsellino called the deal a step toward “more qualified, thorough, and quality” journalism, language that echoes Chinese Communist Party framing of state media professionalism, and said Italpress would open a bureau in Beijing in January 2026 as part of its international expansion. Tian Fan (田帆), director of Xinhua’s European Regional Office, said the agency would continue presenting China to Italy in a “vivid and multifaceted” way. Chinese Embassy chargé d’affaires Li Xiaoyong (李小勇) said the deal would help “authentic information” “cross borders” and build “mutual trust” between the two countries.