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Activity Category: Media Engagement Activity

Qingdao Binhai University Signs Cooperation Agreement With Russia’s Dragon Newspaper

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On April 7, 2026, the International Civil Diplomacy Research Center (國際民間外交研究中心) at Qingdao Binhai University, a private university in Shandong province, signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Russian outlet Dragon Newspaper, according to a press release from the university. The agreement, signed during a visit by Dragon Newspaper president Li Shuangjie (李雙傑), covers cultural exchange, academic research, and youth employment services aimed at what the university called strengthening “people-to-people bonds” (民心相通) between China and Russia. Dragon Newspaper has documented institutional ties to China News Service, which established a “strategic partnership” with the paper in 2012, and whose corporate structure, according to Chinese business registry records, wholly owns the company registered as operator of the paper’s website. The university’s executive vice president, Han Xiaomeng (韓曉萌), said the school maintains partnerships with more than 140 universities and research institutions across 40 countries and Taiwan and has hosted more than 2,300 international students. Both sides framed the agreement as part of the “China-Russia Education Year,” a bilateral framework promoting educational and cultural exchange.

Heilongjiang Northeast Asia International Communication Center Launched With Russian, South Korean Media Participation

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On February 28, 2024, the Heilongjiang Northeast Asia International Communication Center (黑龍江東北亞國際傳播中心) launched in Harbin, as part of a nationwide strategy under Xi Jinping to invigorate “external propaganda” (外宣) through greater provincial and city-level involvement. The center was jointly established by the Heilongjiang Daily Press Group (黑龍江日報報業集團), Ta Kung Net (大公網), a Hong Kong news portal operated by the Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, and the government of Heihe, a Heilongjiang border city facing Russia. Zhang Chunjiao (張春嬌), then Party secretary and president of the press group, said the center would help “tell Longjiang’s version of China’s story” to the world, according to the government-run China News Service. At the launch, Ta Kung Net’s Northeast Asia channel went live, and organizers announced more than 30 “cooperative linked media” (合作聯動媒體) partners. “Leonid Georgievich Gulin” (列昂尼德·格奥尔基耶维奇·古林), editor-in-chief of the Russian outlet Dragon Newspaper, and a figure identified in Chinese state media as “Kim Moon-young” (金文永), a representative of a South Korean outlet identified as “MP Net” (MP網), delivered video remarks pledging cooperation. Neither the individual nor the outlet on the South Korean side could be independently confirmed from online sources, and the Russian editor’s name is likewise an unverified romanization. The center runs Korean- and Russian-language channels under Heilongjiang’s “link south, open north” (南聯北開) communication strategy.

CUC Co-Hosts Accessible Film Event at UNESCO

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On June 17, 2026, UNESCO’s Information for All Programme, the China Foundation for Human Rights Development (中国人权发展基金会), a nominally independent charity whose governing charter names the Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department as its supervising authority, and Communication University of China (中国传媒大学) jointly held a symposium on accessible information and cultural rights at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The event corresponded with China’s release of its most recent “national human rights action plan” (2026-2030), and was part of a related promotional strategy. CUC deputy Party secretary Zheng Peng (郑鹏) told attendees that Guangming Cinema (光明影院), a CUC-run project producing audio-described films for blind and visually impaired viewers, now reaches more than 2,200 special education schools across China. That evening, the three organizers held a screening of the project’s films, attended by Mariya Gabriel, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, who previously served as Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, according to Communication University of China.

CUC Signs Cooperation Deal With ISCOM in Paris

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On June 16, 2026, a Communication University of China (中国传媒大学) delegation led by deputy Party secretary Zheng Peng (郑鹏) signed a cooperation memorandum with ISCOM (Institut Supérieur de Communication), a private communication and advertising school in Paris marking its 40th anniversary this year. The agreement was signed with Caroline Grassaud, who became director of ISCOM Paris in 2023. According to the Communication University of China, Zheng called the signing a new starting point for cooperation between the two schools, and said the deal would expand a student exchange tied to CUC’s School of Advertising and Brand Communication. Grassaud said she was confident in the partnership and invited CUC students to a summer program on digital communication at ISCOM, with joint discussions planned on technology’s role in media.

Zhejiang Media Group Signs Content Sharing Agreement with Barcelona Public Broadcaster

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On September 9, 2019, officials from Zhejiang Media Group (浙江廣播電視集團), a state-owned Chinese broadcaster, and Barcelona’s publicly owned broadcaster Betevé signed a cooperation agreement under which Zhejiang’s broadcaster would supply documentaries to Betevé while Betevé would provide Spanish-produced content to Zhejiang television. The agreement, titled “Beautiful Zhejiang, Vibrant Barcelona,” was signed in Barcelona and also involved the Barcelona Chinese Education Foundation (巴塞羅那中文教育基金會), known in Spanish as “Any Nou Xinès amb Barcelona,” which assisted in producing a related program segment. Attendees included Zhu Guoxian (朱國賢), a Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee member and propaganda chief, and China’s consul general in Barcelona, Lin Nan (林楠). Betevé’s director, Sergi Vicente, said the partnership would “promote Chinese and Western culture” (弘揚中西方文化), echoing standard formulations from Chinese official political discourse.

Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Addresses China-EU Trade in Copenhagen Post

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On May 29, 2026, Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰), China’s ambassador to Denmark, published an op-ed in the Copenhagen Post, Denmark’s English media outlet, responding to the question of whether Europe lost its economic momentum as China’s trade surplus with the EU last year rose to nearly USD 300 billion. Wang argued that “the reality is not as it seems,” and that “the evolution of the China-EU trade landscape is a natural consequence of globalization and industrial upgrading.” Wang suggested that criticism of the imbalance overlooked what he called “mutual benefit.” Wang also listed the “multi-structural factors” that he said led to the trade imbalance, including the EU’s policy adjustments in response to the energy landscape following the Ukraine crisis, and controls on exports of technology products. The ambassador underscored what China has seen as “discriminatory and exclusionary” legal amendments that he said are “undermining” EU-China trade relations. He called for the EU to “embrace China” to create a “win-win partnership” rather than making it a “zero-sum” game — this being a framing used consistently by China to characterize its global trade relationships as broadly beneficial. During the first quarter of 2026, the EU’s trade deficit with China reached its highest level since 2022.

Chinese Ambassador to Italy Meets With AGI General Manager

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On July 14, 2015, Li Ruiyu (李瑞宇), then China’s ambassador to Italy, met with Alessandro Pica, then general manager of Italian news agency AGI (Agenzia Giornalistica Italia), according to a release from the embassy. Li used standard Chinese trade-diplomacy language, describing closer China-Italy ties as a way to pair China’s manufacturing cost advantage with Italy’s design and technology strengths, and called for joint development of “third-party markets” to achieve a “win-win, or even win-win-win” (雙贏乃至三贏) outcome — phrasing consistent with CCP economic-diplomacy discourse that frames Chinese-led ventures as benefiting not just China and its host country but the global economy more broadly. Li said AGI had long maintained good cooperative relations with Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, and China Radio International, according to the release. Pica said AGI, the only Italian wire service with a Chinese-language edition, aimed to be an active “promoter” (推動者) of China-Italy cooperation rather than just a “witness” (見證者), and said the agency had “close communication and collaboration” with Chinese “mainstream media” (中國主流媒體) on news exchange and joint reporting.

CUC Delegation Meets Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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On June 19, 2026, a Communication University of China (中国传媒大学) delegation led by deputy Party secretary Zheng Peng (郑鹏) met with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (布鲁塞尔自由大学), or VUB, the Dutch-speaking of Brussels’s two public universities, to discuss expanding academic ties. The delegation met with Karin Vanderkerken, VUB’s vice-rector for internationalization and a professor of biomedical sciences who previously oversaw the university’s research infrastructure as vice-rector for research from 2016 to 2022. According to a press release from Communication University of China, the two sides discussed launching a joint doctoral program, folding a Belgian culture week into student exchanges, and arranging short-term visiting scholar placements between the schools. CUC’s international office director, Wang Wenyuan (王文渊), also attended, along with CUC staff currently posted at VUB and an official from the education office of the Chinese embassy in Belgium, which oversees Chinese students studying in the country. CUC also runs its own Institute for a Community with Shared Future (人类命运共同体研究院), a think tank that a CMP report on China’s external propaganda architecture in 2025 identified as one arm of a coordinated national effort to embed Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s foreign policy concepts into international scholarship, operating more than 20 overseas research centers in partnership with universities and state media abroad.

Budapest Radio Station Interrupted Broadcast for CRI Programming During Chinese State Visit

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On June 24, 2011, Budapest’s classical-music radio station Klasszik Radio halted its regular programming and aired Chinese state-produced content timed precisely to the arrival of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), the first visit to Hungary by a Chinese premier in 24 years, investigative Hungarian outlet Direkt36 reported. Former senior editor Viktor Hankó said the order originated directly from China Radio International (中國國際廣播電台), or CRI, the CCP-controlled international broadcaster, which in 2018 was brought under the China Media Group (CMG). Klasszik Radio was reportedly phoned by CRI representatives less than 48 hours before Wen’s arrival and sent prepared material on China’s history and Sino-Hungarian relations for the station to air. Referring to Wen Jiabao’s motorcade, Hankó told Direkt36 that the goal was “to show to that one guy sitting in his limousine that there are Chinese broadcasts even on Hungarian radio.” The same broadcast instructions were delivered to GBTimes Oy (環球時代傳媒公司), the Finnish-registered firm with which  Klasszik had partnered in December 2010, selling it part of its airtime. GBTimes Oy also acted in the interest of China Radio International. Four years later, a 2015 Reuters investigation identified Klasszik among the stations in GBTimes Oy’s European network carrying CRI-linked programming through a China-based subsidiary of CRI. GBTimes Oy CEO Zhao Yinong (趙亦農) told Reuters that CRI paid his company “several million euros” a year to produce China-friendly radio content. Chinese officials later told Klasszik staff that Wen was pleased with the broadcast, according to the Direkt36 report.