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Activity Type: Media Partnership or Co-Production

Chinese Ambassador Criticizes EU Sanctions in Portuguese Press

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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. 

Hong Kong Press and News Executives’ Associations Sign MOU with Khabar Agency in Kazakhstan

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On June 2, 2026, the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong (香港報業公會) and the Hong Kong News Executives’ Association (新職行政人員協會) signed a memorandum of understanding with Khabar Agency (哈巴爾通訊社), Kazakhstan’s state-owned broadcaster, in Astana. The signing took place during a visit to Kazakhstan by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超), who led a high-level delegation that for the first time included representatives of Hong Kong’s press industry. Under the agreement, the parties committed to jointly promoting what they described as “accurate narratives” about their respective regions, and to facilitating professional exchanges, training programs, and journalist study visits — language that mirrors official PRC framing around Western dominance of global public opinion and the need for alternative narrative channels. The agreement was one of seven MOUs signed between Hong Kong media and public and private sector counterparts in Kazakhstan during the visit. Hong Kong’s director of information services, Tse Chun-chung (謝振中), who accompanied the delegation in his first overseas trip in that role, said the visit responded to a policy direction set out in the previous year’s Policy Address to help local media expand networks beyond Hong Kong and “tell Hong Kong’s story well” (說好香港故事) — a phrase that echoes Xi Jinping’s directive to “tell China’s story well” (講好中國故事), a formulation used in the context of both tightening domestic media control and extending Chinese state influence over China’s narrative overseas.

Xinhua Signs News Exchange Agreement with Zambia News and Information Services

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On August 25, 2023, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency signed a news exchange and cooperation agreement with the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Lusaka, Zambia. According to Xinhua, the agreement covered news content exchange, video and new media cooperation, and journalist training. Xinhua’s president, Fu Hua (傅華), met with Loyce Saili, director of ZANIS, at the ZANIS headquarters in Lusaka during a combined signing and equipment handover ceremony, at which Xinhua donated laptops and hard drives to ZANIS. Saili noted that the two agencies’ relationship dated to before 2005, when ZANIS was still called Zambia Information Services, and said the 2023 agreement renewed a memorandum of understanding first concluded in 1984. Saili mentioned that the newly formed ZANIS Television would begin broadcasting later in the year and suggested the agency would look to China for training of related personnel. Using official discourse typical of such arrangements, subordinating media issues to diplomatic relationships, Fu framed the agreements within a broader push to build “a favorable environment in terms of public opinion for both countries to pursue a development path suited to their national conditions” ahead of the 60th anniversary of China-Zambia diplomatic relations in 2024, and invited ZANIS to participate in the fifth World Media Summit, a forum organized and funded by Xinhua.

Xinhua Signs News Exchange Agreement with Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation

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On August 25, 2023, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency signed a news exchange and cooperation agreement with the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) in Lusaka, Zambia. Fu Hua (傅華), Xinhua’s president, met with Bright Nkaka, acting director-general of the ZNBC, at a dedicated signing ceremony. According to Xinhua, the agreement was intended to broaden the ZNBC’s communications channels and enrich its news content for Zambian audiences. Fu said Xinhua was prepared to share its experience of technology-driven media convergence — an overarching term for digital media transition — and to deepen cooperation through Xinhua-organized multilateral platforms, including the World Media Summit and the BRICS Media Forum, both of which serve as channels for Chinese state framing of global media norms and responsibilities. On the same day, Xinhua donated laptops and hard drives to several Zambian media organizations.

Xinhua News Agency Signs Agreement With Agência de Informação de Moçambique

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On April 21, 2026, China’s state news agency, Xinhua, signed a news exchange and cooperation agreement with the Agência de Informação de Moçambique (莫桑比克通訊社), or AIM, Mozambique’s state news agency. The signing took place during Mozambican President Daniel Francisco Chapo’s state visit to Beijing and was listed on the official outcomes of the visit. According to Xinhua, the agreement covered what the agency described as “practical cooperation” in news content exchange and personnel visits between the two outlets.

Xinhua Signs News Service Agreement with Zambezi FM Radio

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On August 25, 2023, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency signed a news service agreement with Zambezi FM Radio in Lusaka, Zambia, during a visit by Xinhua president Fu Hua (傅華). According to Xinhua, both sides described the agreement as intended to enhance mutual understanding between Chinese and Zambian people and promote friendly bilateral relations — framing consistent with Xinhua’s standard characterization of its international media partnerships as instruments of bilateral goodwill. Fu said that the cooperation would help media on both sides “better tell the stories of China-Zambia friendship.” The agreement was one of three cooperation deals Xinhua concluded with Zambian media organizations during the same trip, alongside separate agreements with the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) and the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC).

Xinhua Editor-in-Chief Meets Agencia EFE President in Madrid

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On May 12, 2016, He Ping (何平), then editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency (新華通訊社), met with José Antonio Vera, then president of Spain’s Agencia EFE (埃菲通訊社), in Madrid. He Ping called for deeper cooperation and said Xinhua should serve as a “bridge” between the two countries’ populations — language characteristic of the CCP’s framing of state media as instruments of public diplomacy rather than news organizations. Vera, who had visited Xinhua the previous year, welcomed the meeting and described the agency’s development as having made a strong impression during that visit. He Ping was in Spain at Agencia EFE’s invitation and also met with representatives of the financial newspaper Mundo Financiero, the foreign affairs outlet El Diplomático, and the regional daily Diario del Norte de Castilla.

CCTV and RTVE Sign Cooperation Agreement

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On January 30, 2009, Spain’s public broadcaster, Spanish Radio and Television Corporation (RTVE) and China Central Television (CCTV) signed a cooperation agreement during former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s (溫家寶) official visit to Spain. Signed by then RTVE president Luis Fernández and the director of CCTV, the agreement covered the exchange of news programming, documentaries, and a range of cultural content, as well as co-productions and training exchanges for professionals from both stations. The broadcasters also committed to organizing themed broadcast weeks: “TVE China Week” and “Spanish Week at CCTV” — and planned musical collaborations between the RTVE Orchestra and Choir and Chinese artists.

Xinhua President Meets With Agencia EFE President

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On September 5, 2024, Fu Hua (傅華), the president of China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, met with Miguel Ángel Oliver, president of Spain’s state-owned agency Agencia EFE, in Beijing. As the two counterparts met, Fu stressed that the agencies have cooperated since the 1970s, though the earliest documented contact appears to date back to 2015. Fu expressed interest in expanded exchanges in news content, personnel, and new media. Oliver, appointed president of Agencia EFE in December 2023, said the agency “looks forward to deepening cooperation” with Xinhua. During the meeting, Fu also promoted the World Media Summit, a forum launched by Xinhua in 2009 that presents itself as a multilateral platform but was conceived, organized, and funded by Xinhua as a direct initiative of the CCP leadership. The summit convenes international media leaders to discuss industry cooperation, news exchange, and technology — and serves as a channel for the Chinese state’s framing of global media responsibilities and values. At the 2024 edition of the World Media Summit, held in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, in October 2024, Chinese officials used the platform to dismiss Western reporting on Uyghur human rights abuses as “fabricated lies.”