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Activity Type: Media Partnership or Co-Production

NAN and Xinhua Sign Information Partnership Agreement

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) signed a memorandum of understanding with Xinhua News Agency (新華通訊社) in May 2019 to promote China’s Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership (BREIP) initiative. The West Africa Bureau Chief of Xinhua News Agency described the initiative as a “business arrangement to complement the efforts of member countries on the development strategy” related to the Belt and Road Initiative. BREIP was established by Xinhua News Agency in June 2019 as an information-sharing platform connecting news agencies, research institutions, and business associations from countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The partnership aims to facilitate economic information exchange and reduce “information deficit” between participating countries. NAN Managing Director and its Editor-in-Chief expressed support for the initiative, with Onanuga stating it would “protect the interests of countries along the Belt and Road initiative.”

Nanfang Media Group Partners with Five Malaysian Newspapers

On 31 October 2021, China’s Nanfang Media Group (南方報業傳媒集團) signed strategic cooperation framework agreements with five major Malaysian media outlets. The participating Malaysian outlets included Chinese-language newspapers Kwong Wah Yit Poh (光華日報), Oriental Daily News (東方日報), and United Daily News (聯合日報), along with English-language publications The Sun and Malay Mail. The partnership focuses on promoting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development and China’s Belt and Road Initiative through content exchange, joint interviews, collaborative field investigations, and cross-promotion of tourism and cultural initiatives between Malaysia and Guangdong. The deputy president and deputy editor-in-chief of Nanfang Media Group stated the cooperation would focus on “joint interviews and collaborative reporting” to “tell Greater Bay Area and Guangdong-Malaysia stories better.” The general manager of Kwong Wah Yit Poh—Malaysia’s oldest Chinese-language newspaper, founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1910—expressed confidence in the partnership, noting his publication’s existing relationships with over ten Chinese media organizations and its role as “the earliest Malaysian Chinese daily to cooperate with Chinese media.”

CMG Signs Deal With Greek Media at Bilateral Dialogue

On October 30, 2023, China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台) hosted a “China-Greece Belt and Road Dialogue” (中國希臘”一帶一路”對話會) in Athens. The event was attended by former Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who served as president from 2015 to 2020, China Media Group President Shen Haixiong (慎海雄), who has headed the umbrella state media organization since 2018, Greek Tourism Minister Vasilis Kikilias, who served in that role from August 2021 to March 2023, and Chinese Ambassador to Greece Xiao Junzheng (肖軍正). During the event, CMG signed a cooperation memorandum with Greece’s largest financial media outlet, Shipping and Business News (航運與商業報), covering international news reporting and financial content collaboration. CMG also exchanged an agreement with the Greek satellite platform NOVA to broadcast CGTN English and Documentary channels in Greece. Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni (麗娜·門佐尼) announced plans for a comprehensive cooperation memorandum with CMG covering multiple joint cultural projects.

CMG Signs Deal with Two Peruvian Media

On November 20, 2024, América TV and the newspaper El Comercio signed a collaboration agreement with China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), or CMG, the media conglomerate under China’s Central Propaganda Department. The agreement aims to “produce content that appeals to both Peruvian and Chinese audiences,” according to Fernando Muñiz Bethancourt, CEO of América Multimedia. The collaboration includes program exchange, joint production, technology innovation, and personnel training. Specific projects mentioned in the announcement include news exchange, joint film production, joint content broadcasting, and personnel exchange and training. The agreement was signed during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, which took place from November 13-16, 2024. The Chinese delegation was led by Shen Haixiong (慎海雄), the president and editor-in-chief of CMG, who concurrently serves as a deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department.

CMG Signs MoU to Broadcast 2026 Winter Olympics

The China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台) signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian foundation Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 on June 23, 2025, to become a rights-holding broadcaster for the Winter Olympic Games in Milano area in February 2026. The state-run media group, directly under the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department, will collaborate on news coverage, program production, and promotional campaigns ahead of and during the Games. CGTN, the Chinese group’s international broadcasting arm, reported that the agreement includes integrating artificial intelligence and 8K ultra-high-definition broadcasting technologies into live coverage. Emphasizing the bilateral significance of the arrangement, the two sides characterized the commercial deal as an opportunity to deepen China-Italy relations, coinciding with the 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the People’s Republic of China and Italy, formally established on November 6, 1970.

China-Arab TV and China’s FECC Discuss Cooperation

On May 29, 2020, officials from the Investment Promotion Department of China’s Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (外经中心投资促进处), or FECC, an agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, met with representatives from China-Arab TV’s Beijing-based China News Center (中阿卫视中国新闻中心) to discuss enhancing China-Arab agricultural cooperation. The meeting focused on leveraging the Dubai-headquartered but Chinese-operated media platform to promote Chinese agricultural technological achievements, boost China’s international agricultural influence, and facilitate investment and trade between Chinese agricultural enterprises and Arab nations. Both parties reached preliminary consensus on cooperation frameworks and development directions, establishing groundwork for future collaborative initiatives in various agricultural sectors between China and Arab countries. The meeting highlighted the important diplomatic and trade role played by China-Arab TV, which a China Media Project investigation in 2024 showed has direct links to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Chinese-Ukrainian Media Sign Cooperation Agreement

On June 20, 2019, China’s Science and Technology Daily (科技日報) signed a cooperation agreement with Ukraine’s Uryadovy Kuryer (Government Courier) in Kyiv. Led by Editor-in-Chief Li Ping (李平), the Chinese delegation met with Ukrainian counterparts including Editor-in-Chief Sergii Braga to strengthen media collaboration and information exchange. The agreement facilitates regular content sharing and website cross-linking between these publications. Science and Technology Daily, described as a central major news media and the Party and state’s science and technology news and public opinion position, partnered with Uryadovy Kuryer, Ukraine’s official newspaper of the Cabinet of Ministers. Uryadovy Kuryer, which has been published since October 1990, is among Ukraine’s leading government publications. According to the Chinese source, the Ukrainian newspaper is considered “an important window” for understanding Ukrainian political dynamics and economic developments.

China Radio International and the Philippine Presidential Broadcasting Service Launch “Wow China” Broadcast

Wow China, a collaborative radio program between the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) under the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and China Radio International (中國國際廣播電台), aired on government station Radyo Pilipinas from 2018 to at least May 2020. China Radio International operates under China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), which was established in March 2018 through the integration of China Central Television, China National Radio, and China Radio International, and is under the leadership of the Central Propaganda Department, according to HK01‘s report on the official announcement. The program described itself as a “light cultural program” focusing on China-Philippines cultural exchange, but sparked significant backlash in May 2020 amid tensions over the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic, with critics calling it “pro-China propaganda” funded by Filipino taxpayers. The controversy intensified as it coincided with the government’s cease and desist order against ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ largest media network, leading lawmakers to question the use of taxpayer money for the program.

Indonesian Paper Strikes Deal to Promote Stories for Guangdong’s Jiangmen

A nine-person delegation from Indonesia’s Thousand Islands Daily (千島日報) visited Jiangmen City on April 26, 2024, where they signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Jiangmen Overseas Chinese Media Center (江門市僑媒中心). The deal establishes a regular column called “Jiangmen Stories” in the Indonesian newspaper, targeting the ethnic Chinese community in Indonesia with content about this prominent emigration region in China. Wu Mengxuan (吳夢暄), the newspaper’s director, attended alongside officials from the Jiangmen Returned Overseas Chinese Federation (江門市歸國華僑聯合會), which controls the Overseas Chinese Media Center — including its Party group member and deputy chairman Yu Zequan (余澤權). The ceremony emphasized the strategic importance of reaching Indonesian Chinese readers with narratives about China. The Thousand Islands Daily was founded in 2000 by Zhang Mingkai (張明開), an overseas Chinese leader from Jiangmen who reportedly died in 2011 while “seeking aid” in China. The Overseas Chinese Federation is a mass organization under Chinese Communist Party leadership that operates as part of the party’s united front system.