China and ASEAN launch joint AI media initiative as Beijing expands its technological influence regionally.

When a skyscraper built by a Chinese state company was the only to collapse in during the recent earthquake, China’s first response was not rescue — it was information lockdown.

Through on-the-ground reporting, the WeChat-based outlet Positive Connections offers rare insight into the cyber scam compounds along the Thailand-Myanmar border — questioning prevailing Chinese public opinion that scapegoats Southeast Asian countries.

A Bangkok summit celebrating China’s engagement in Southeast Asia reveals Beijing’s growing use of both national and provincial propaganda outlets to shape regional narratives.

As China pursues water diplomacy with countries along the Lower Mekong, seeking to strike a benevolent tone and downplay environmental and livelihood impacts that have concerned local communities, another big tool in its toolbox is media diplomacy.

A training session for Southeast Asian journalists hosted by the foreign affairs office in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang is a reminder that China’s state agendas are being actively pushed not just from the top, but from the local and regional levels as well.