Activity Type: Media Partnership or Co-Production

In September 2023, Macau Daily News (澳門日報) signed a cooperation agreement with Portugal’s Global Media Group. Under the agreement, Macau Daily News launched a special section titled “A Window into Chinese Culture” (中國文化之窗) in the group’s newspaper, Diário de Notícias, with the first installment published on September 28, 2023. Macau, a former Portuguese colony that was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999, maintains Portuguese as an official language alongside Chinese. The section appears every Thursday, and covers topics such as Macau’s historical and cultural relations with China and Portugal, prominent figures in Sino-Western cultural exchange, Chinese philosophical thought, traditional festivals, and China’s intangible cultural heritage. Chui Chi Tou (崔志濤), editor-in-chief of Macao Daily News, stated that the partnership aimed to “leverage the unique role of Macao in the cultural exchanges between China and the West,” according to the report. Marco Galinha, then chairman of the board of Global Media Group, described the partnership as an opportunity to expand readership and advance the group’s international strategy.

On June 2, 2016, the People’s Daily (人民日報), China’s official Communist Party newspaper, signed a cooperation agreement with Portugal’s national news agency Lusa in Beijing. Yang Zhenwu (楊振武), who served as president of People’s Daily from April 2014 to April 2018, and Teresa Marques, then president of Lusa’s Administrative Council, attended the signing ceremony. The agreement was signed during a Belt and Road Forum organized by the People’s Daily, part of the newspaper’s annual series of media cooperation forums launched in 2014 to promote collaboration among international media on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (一帶一路). Under the agreement, the outlets pledged to exchange news content and collaborate on Belt and Road reporting, with Marques noting Lusa could contribute coverage across Portuguese-speaking countries in Portugal, Africa, and Asia.

On June 18, 2021, the Chinese Ambassador to Portugal, Zhao Bentang (趙本堂), published a signed article in the Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Notícias titled “Why has the Communist Party of China been able to gain power and maintain long-term governance in China?” (中國共產黨為什麼能夠在中國取得政權並長期執政？). The article presented the official Chinese Communist Party narrative on its hundred-year history, arguing that the CCP’s success in recent decades stems from adapting Marxism to Chinese conditions, prioritizing people’s interests over special interest groups, embracing reform and openness, learning from global civilizations, and demonstrating international responsibility through peaceful development and multilateral cooperation.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ In an oft-used CCP argument against concerns stemming from China’s global engagement, Zhao said that China does not “import” foreign models and does not “export” (輸出) the China Model. 

On April 26, 2021, the Chinese Ambassador to Portugal published a signed article in the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias titled “Jointly Safeguard the Healthy Development of China-EU Relations” (共同維護中歐關係健康發展). In the article, the ambassador expressed “regret” over the EU sanctions targeting Chinese officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, saying that China only imposed counter-sanctions as a retaliatory measure, labeling the EU actions as interference in China’s internal affairs. The ambassador also discussed Portugal’s role as the EU’s rotating presidency holder in the first half of 2021 and expressed hope that Portugal would promote “objective” views of China among EU member states. The article followed the levying of joint sanctions in March 2021 by the European Union, the US, Canada and the UK against senior Chinese officials over abuses targeting the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, which prompted Beijing to retaliate by blacklisting numerous EU lawmakers and scholars. 

On July 31, 2024, the Chinese Ambassador to Portugal published an op-ed in Portuguese outlets, including the weekly newspaper Diário de Notícias, regional radio station Iris FM, and the Portuguese Journalists Association website, talking about and promoting the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a policy-setting meeting held in July 2024. The ambassador characterized the reforms introduced at the meeting as creating a “clearer blueprint” and called for deeper integration China-Portugal cooperation. He highlighted the “strong resilience, vitality, and potential” of China-Portugal relations and argued that the reforms would “inject more vitality” into bilateral cooperation.

On April 12, 2021, the Chinese Ambassador to Portugal published a signed article in the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias titled “The Truth about Human Rights Issues in Xinjiang” (關於新疆人權問題的真相). The article reframed the Xinjiang issue as a security matter rather than a human rights concern, characterizing it as one of “anti-violence, counter-terrorism, and anti-separatism” (反暴力、反恐怖主義和反分裂問題), according to the Chinese embassy. The article also claimed that ethnic minority cultures in Xinjiang had been “well preserved” and highlighted economic growth over the previous 60 years. The piece responded to longstanding accusations by Western governments and human rights organizations regarding mass detention, forced labor, and cultural suppression in Xinjiang. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which passed the U.S. Senate in July 2021 and was signed into law in December 2021, prohibited imports of goods from Xinjiang unless importers could prove they were not made with forced labor.

On September 11, 2024, China’s ambassador to Portugal published an article in Diário de Notícias, a Portuguese daily newspaper, discussing the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit held September 4-6, 2024. FOCAC is a China-led platform for cooperation with African countries, established in 2000. The ambassador characterized the summit as China’s largest recent diplomatic event, with leaders from over 50 African countries attending. He outlined a three-year cooperation framework and called for China-Portugal-Africa trilateral cooperation to “support Africa in achieving modernization through its own path” (支持非洲以自身道路实现现代化). The ambassador’s framing emphasized China’s role as a partner in African development, echoing Beijing’s broader narrative of South-South cooperation. He also pitched for trilateral cooperation targeted Portugal’s existing relationships with six Portuguese-speaking African nations: Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Equatorial Guinea.