As independent journalists face mounting pressure in Kyrgyzstan, Chinese state media have quietly built influence over two decades. Adina Masalbekova tells Lingua Sinica how it happened.

China’s 2020 crackdown on Mongolian-language education triggered mass protests and thousands of arrests. Soyonbo Borjgin⁩, a journalist who lived through it, tells Lingua Sinica what happened and how it changed the media landscape.

African journalists flock to Chinese training programs expecting to learn their craft. What they get instead is sightseeing, subtle pressure — and a debt of gratitude, says author Emeka Umejei.

From content-sharing deals with major broadcasters to diaspora media linked to the PRC party-state, China has built a layered media presence in Greece that exploits a fragmented landscape weakened by years of financial crisis, says expert Plamen Tonchev.

As Spain’s prime minister wraps up his fourth visit to Beijing in just over three years, Lingua Sinica sits down with Shiany Pérez-Cheng to examine another side of the relationship — how media partnerships and embassy intervention have extended China’s reach in the country.

Indonesia’s media landscape faces economic pressures and safety threats, creating openings for Chinese state media to expand influence through content partnerships, all-expenses-paid tours, and editorial agreements that normalize Beijing’s narratives.

Journalist Nop Vy discusses press freedom’s decline since 2017, the risks facing independent outlets, and Chinese influence over information access.

Veteran journalist Li Sipan reflects on feminism’s struggle within China’s liberal media, the rise and suppression of Women Awakening Network, and journalism’s transformation under tightening censorship.

Focus in domestic media on the diplomatic implications of the Holy See has turned attention from its outsized role as a Chinese-language communication hub.