
X Marks the Spot
Elon Musk’s new messaging app was built with Chinese users in mind. It was censored before it ever reached them, with related news coverage from state media also pulled down.

On April 14, 2026, China Daily (中國日報), a state-run English-language newspaper under the direct supervision of the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department, co-hosted a cultural exchange event titled “From Yunnan to the World: Cultural Fusion in a Cup of Coffee” (從雲南到世界,一杯咖啡里的文化交融) at Beijing Foreign Studies University (北京外國語大學). Co-organizers included the Pu’er Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Pu’er Municipal People’s Government, and the university’s School of International Journalism and Communication. The event featured participants from Greece, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and Indonesia, and prominently featured Trung Nguyen Legend Coffee Group (中原傳奇咖啡集團), a Vietnamese coffee conglomerate, which announced plans to source coffee from Yunnan for distribution through its global chain. Speakers framed Yunnan coffee as a vehicle for what China Daily described as “telling China’s story well” (講好中國故事) and “people-to-people connectivity” (民心相通) — formulations central to the Chinese Communist Party’s international propaganda strategy. China Daily‘s creative merchandise division announced a co-branded product with Mingqian Coffee (明謙咖啡), a Shanghai-based brand involved in poverty-alleviation programs in Yunnan under the government’s rural revitalization campaign.
