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Activity Type: Promotional or Propaganda Media Event

SMG Co-hosts 2024 ENEX General Assembly

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The 31st ENEX General Assembly convened in Shanghai on September 26, 2024, co-hosted by the European News Exchange (ENEX) and the Shanghai Media Group (上海廣播電視台), or SMG, and organized by SMG International (上海文廣國際傳播中心). SMG International is Shanghai’s local international communication center (國際傳播中心), or ICC, part of Xi Jinping’s push to bring regional media groups into the larger project of national propaganda directed overseas. According to Chinese media, more than 70 delegates from 17 countries and regions gathered for the ENEX General Assembly to discuss the future of media development and transnational cooperation. In his opening remarks, the President of SMG said that global media need more cooperation and that they must “share factual news” (我们需要共享新闻事实) and “jointly capture objective and truthful international news” (共同捕捉客观真实的国际新闻). Far from calls to professionalism, as they might seem, these remarks reference the official view of China’s leadership, which holds that global public opinion is imbalanced against China — and that this state of affairs requires corrective measures. According to ENEX, the discussions centered on challenges facing the media sector, particularly the expanding impact of artificial intelligence and the complexities of covering international conflicts. SMG states that its mission is to build “the best practice ground for ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Culture’” — a reference to the media-related aspects of the CCP leader’s central political ideology — while also “disseminating public opinion and culture.”

China and Uganda Launch Audiovisual Initiative

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The Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau (北京市廣播電視局), under the local city leadership of the CCP, and Uganda’s Vision Group jointly hosted the “Love Beijing Night” cultural exchange event in Kampala on June 27, 2025. Also launched at the event was a new program for the distribution of Chinese television dramas called “2025 ‘LOVE Beijing’ Audiovisual Arts International Communication Initiative Africa” (2025年’LOVE北京’視聽文藝國際傳播行動·非洲). Under the terms of the project, Vision Group will broadcast a series of Chinese television dramas, including Six Sisters (六姊妹), a family drama, alongside TV shows such as Minning Town (山海情), a series about a community in China’s arid northwest that promotes the Party’s anti-poverty campaign. Chinese state media reported that the programming aimed to “deepen China-Africa audiovisual cooperation” (深化中非視聽合作). The initiative also established dedicated audiovisual content zones on the African mobile app Scooper News, featuring an English-language “Beijing Broadcasting Service Package” that runs documentaries and short videos. Vision Group CEO said that  the programming would “open a window for Ugandan audiences to see China,” while Chinese officials emphasized the shows demonstrate Chinese “family and national sentiments” to African viewers.

Shenyang Hosts Cross-Strait Media Youth Symposium

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On September 10, 2025, the Liaoning Provincial Taiwan Affairs Office (遼寧省委台辦) and Liaoning Communication University (遼寧傳媒學院) hosted a cross-strait media symposium titled “Liaoning-Taiwan Perspectives: A Mirror for the Future” (遼台視界 鏡啟未來) in Shenyang. Nearly 40 participants attended, including journalists from Taiwan, social media personalities, reporters from Hong Kong, and professors from Liaoning Communication University. Participants included Yuan Tianming (袁天明), chairman of the little-known Chinese Journalists Association (中華新聞記者協會), or CJA TW, who was misidentified as chairman of the Association of Taiwan Journalists (台灣新聞記者協會), a professional non-governmental organization composed of Taiwanese journalists. Yuan characterized the event as “meaningful for deepening cross-strait exchange” and complimented China’s grand official commemoration on September 3 of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. During the symposium, three Taiwanese nationals identified as social media personalities (自媒體人)— Sun Ziyun (孫子芸), James (邱慶齡), and Wu Zhichun (吳志淳) — shared their personal experiences working in China. Sun Ziyun described Liaoning as her “second hometown,” while Wu Zhichun promoted the province’s policies for Taiwanese entrepreneurs, including office space, tax benefits, and housing subsidies. James, visiting Liaoning for the first time, shared his experience of having participated in the September 3 military parade. While identified as social media personalities, the three Taiwanese participants have chiefly been promoters of China and its message of cross-strait integration, and seem to have little appreciable impact inside Taiwan.

Xiamen University Hosts China-ASEAN Journalism Education Conference

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The “China-ASEAN Journalism Education Conference” (中國—東盟未來新聞傳播教育會議), bringing together approximately 30 academic representatives from nine ASEAN countries alongside Chinese academics, was held from September 13-14, 2025, in the port city of Xiamen. Co-organized by the School of Journalism and Communication of Xiamen University (廈門大學新聞傳播學院) and the university’s Center for International Communication Research (廈門大學國際傳播研究中心), the conference revolved around the theme of journalism and the role of artificial intelligence. Indian national Daya K. Thussu (達雅·屠蘇), president of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), participated in sessions focused on artificial intelligence’s impact on journalism. He said that journalism education “needs to summarize the past to face the future” and stressed the importance of cooperation among ASEAN journalism education institutions to address future challenges posed by technological developments and changing media landscapes. The conference, which emphasized “building a China-ASEAN journalism education community” (构建中国—东盟新闻传播教育共同体), reflected Beijing’s broader regional foreign policy strategy, using partnerships in media, education, and culture to further its geopolitical goals. Chinese media reports indicated participation by representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

China and Indonesia Hold Youth Media Exchange Program

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On August 29, 2025, the “We and the World Dialogue” (我們與世界對話) China-Indonesia youth media exchange took place in Jakarta, marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Nearly 100 young representatives from media organizations, universities, and research institutions participated. The event was co-organized by several Chinese institutions linked to the Guangxi Provincial Government, including the Information Office of the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (廣西壯族自治區人民政府新聞辦公室), the Guangxi International Communication Center (廣西國際傳播中心) — an office under the province’s propaganda office — and Guangxi Radio and Television (廣西廣播電視台). Indonesian partners included the state-run Televisi Republik Indonesia (印尼國家電視台) and the newspaper Harian InHua (印華日報). Participants explored three central themes throughout the event, including AI, media integration (媒體融合), and “Partners with Shared Destiny” (命運與共好夥伴) — this last theme clearly aligned with Xi Jinping’s foreign policy framework. This event is part of Guangxi’s broader role under a national plan in China to empower border provinces in the south to promote Chinese messaging across Southeast Asia.

China News Service Hosts 12th World Chinese Media Forum

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The 12th World Chinese Media Forum (第十二屆世界華文傳媒論壇) opened on September 7, 2025, in Kunming, Yunnan Province, bringing together representatives from over 120 Chinese-language media outlets from more than 50 countries and regions across five continents. Attendees included Huang Huanming (黃煥明), president of Jian Hua Daily (柬華日報), and a representative from Cambodia China Times (柬中時報). The forum was hosted by China News Service (中國新聞社). Chen Xu (陳旭), deputy minister of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) and director of the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, attended the opening ceremony alongside Li Baojun (李保俊), Yunnan Provincial Committee Standing Committee member and head of the provincial division of the UFWD. The World Chinese Media Forum, described by official state media as playing a key role in “global Chinese media cooperation and consensus-building,” is a key vehicle for the CCP to exercise influence over media in diaspora communities.

Yunnan Hosts 2025 Global South Media Forum

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China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and the Yunnan government jointly hosted the 2025 Global South Media and Think Tank Forum in Kunming, Yunnan Province from September 6-10, gathering 500 journalists, scholars, government officials and entrepreneurs from more than 260 media outlets across 110 countries. Making the broader diplomatic objectives of the forum clear, Hu Heping (胡和平), a deputy director of the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department, told attendees that China’s Global Governance Initiative (GCI) provides “important guidance” for reforming global governance systems—an agenda China has pushed strongly to carve out a more central role for itself and Russia with talk of more “democratic” (i.e., less US-centric) decision-making. Invoking a key foreign policy principle of Xi Jinping and the central leadership, Xinhua president Fu Hua (傅华) suggested the forum and ongoing cooperation would help build “a community with a shared future for humanity.” Key participants included Khamphan Pheuyavong from Laos’ ruling People’s Revolutionary Party and UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming, who addressed the forum via video calling for enhanced global sustainability and cultural exchanges. Fleming, herself an experienced journalist appointed to her post in 2019, was quoted in official Chinese sources as calling for participants to “restore balance to the global information ecosystem,” a notion that perhaps was intended to signal the need for real inclusiveness, but that in context bolstered China’s efforts to sideline ideas about journalistic and media freedom. Under Xi, China has promoted the idea of “journalism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色新闻学), with the aim of “transcending the journalism discourse hegemony constructed by the West” (超越西方构建起的新闻话语霸权). The talk of global cooperation on information issues came alongside clear framing of the United States as a destructive player engaging in “cognitive warfare” and “ideological colonization” against Global South nations. The forum promoted cooperation among Global South media and was set to release two signature documents: the Yunnan Consensus pledging expanded cooperative news production, and a research report on China’s contribution to global public intellectual products distilling best practices from South-South initiatives.

China Media Group Co-hosts Event at UN Headquarters

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On August 13, 2025, the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations and the state-run China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台) co-hosted a cultural exchange event at the United National Headquarters in New York to commemorate the the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War — China’s language for the end of World War II. In remarks to the event, called “Echoes of Peace,” Fu Cong (傅聰), the PRC’s permanent representative to the UN, said China was “proud to be the first country to sign the United Nations Charter,” a statement obscuring the fact that it was the Republic of China (ROC), the current government of Taiwan, that originally signed the Charter in 1945. Shen Haixiong (慎海雄), president of China Media Group, delivered video remarks stating the event aimed to “promote the correct historical view of World War II.” According to Shen, the correct view meant recognizing “the united front against Japanese aggression advocated and established under the banner of the Chinese Communist Party.” The remarks highlighted a key propaganda aspect of 80th anniversary celebrations organized by China, which were meant to rewrite the history of China’s war of resistance to define the CCP’s role as primary — and the CCP, by extension, as a key founder of the UN system.

Chinese Embassy Hosts Zimbabwe China Film Festival

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The 2025 Zimbabwe-China Film Festival opened in Harare on August 5, attended by Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding (周鼎) and over 200 officials and diplomatic representatives. The festival, co-hosted by the Chinese Embassy, China’s National Film Administration, and Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Sport, Entertainment, Arts and Culture, featured four Chinese films, including Panda Plan, YOLO, The Captain, and Red Sea Operation. Ambassador Zhou emphasized that the festival demonstrated China’s “Global Civilization Initiative” and aimed to deepen cultural understanding during Zimbabwe’s 45th year of diplomatic relations with China. Deputy Director Luo Yang (羅楊) of China’s National Film Administration noted this year marks the 130th anniversary of world cinema and 120th of Chinese cinema, expressing hopes for expanded film industry cooperation. Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Sport, Entertainment, Arts and Culture Jessaya welcomed the festival as supporting the country’s “Film Strategy 2025-2030,” while a representative from Zimbabwe’s Film Association praised the strengthened bilateral cultural exchange.