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Hunan Broadcasting System Signs Memorandum with DMSZ

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On February 26, 2025, Duna Médiaszolgáltató (DMSZ) and Hunan Satellite Television (湖南衛視) signed a memorandum of cooperation in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, covering a range of media co-productions and exchanges. According to a Hunan Broadcasting press release, the memorandum was signed by a DMSZ executive and Song Dian (宋點), director of Hunan Satellite Television, in the presence of the Hungarian Consul General in Chongqing and Hunan Broadcasting chairman Gong Zhengwen (龔政文). The agreement covers co-production of China-related documentaries and food programs, cultural exchanges, and talent training. The deal builds on a July 2023 cooperation pact signed in Budapest, through which Hunan Broadcasting cited its variety show Chinese Restaurant (中餐廳) — whose seventh season was filmed in Budapest that year — and claimed to have aired several original productions in Hungary. While DMSZ presents itself as Hungary’s public broadcaster, analysts describe it as a shell entity under effective government control, whose CEO holds no functional autonomy. In recent years it has been strongly criticized within the EU as a pro-government outlet.

Annual Reception for Chinese Media and Japanese Corporations held by Keizai Koho Center

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On December 4, 2024, the Keizai Koho Center (經濟廣報中心), the international communications arm of Keidanren (經團連), Japan’s most influential business lobby, hosted its annual reception for Chinese media correspondents and Japanese corporate representatives in Tokyo. Held yearly since 2005, the event was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in 2022. According to KKC, over 70 attendees participated, including 45 journalists from 24 Chinese media outlets such as China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), Xinhua News Agency (新華通訊社), and People’s Daily (人民日報). KKC Senior Managing Director Ryo Watanabe referenced the November 2024 Japan-China summit in Peru, at which Prime Minister Ishiba and President Xi reaffirmed their commitment to “constructive and stable” bilateral relations.

Hunan Broadcasting System

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Hunan Broadcasting System (湖南廣播電視台) is a state-owned media conglomerate headquartered in Changsha, Hunan Province, operating under the Propaganda Office of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It was established on June 28, 2010, through a restructuring of the former Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group. The group operates multiple television channels and radio frequencies, and its most prominent outlet, Hunan Television (湖南衛視), is widely regarded as China’s second-most-watched channel after CCTV-1. Its official streaming platform, Mango TV (芒果TV), was launched in 2006 and hosts original and licensed content. Among the group’s best-known productions was Happy Camp (快樂大本營), a long-running variety show that aired from 1997 until it ceased broadcasting in late 2021.

Japan Business Federation

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The Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, is a powerful corporate membership federation that is one of Japan’s three major economic organizations, formed in May 2002 through the merger of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (established 1946) and the Japan Federation of Employers’ Associations. According to its own description, as of 2025, the federation comprises 574 leading Japanese companies, 106 national industry associations, and regional economic organizations covering all 47 prefectures. The Federation is regarded as Japan’s most powerful business lobby, as it builds consensus among its members on policy issues — from taxation and energy to trade and labor — and channels those positions to the government through formal proposals and political engagement. Its current chairman as of April 2026 is Yoshinobu Tsutsui (筒井義信), former chairman of Nippon Life Insurance Co., who maintains a close relationship with China, regarding it as a vital economic market. In January 2026, Tsutsui stressed the need to “find an opportunity for dialogue at the economic level”  amid tensions over Chinese export restrictions on dual-use items targeting Japan.

Duan Press

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The Duan Press was founded in 1996 in Tokyo by Duan Yuezhong (段躍中), also known as “Yakuchū Dan,” who previously worked at China Youth Daily (中國青年報), the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League of China. Duan arrived in Japan in 1991 and later established the press, which describes itself as promoting “mutual understanding” between the peoples of China and Japan, language that is often used by publications close to the Party. It publishes China-themed books in Japanese, and since 2004 has released a book each year around August 15, the date Japan identifies as marking its WWII surrender. The volume compiles testimonies from Japanese soldiers who participated in the war against China. Since 2005, the press has also hosted a Japanese-language essay competition for Chinese students, for which it received an Ambassador’s Commendation from Japan’s Embassy in Beijing in 2023. Duan and the press have received consistently favorable coverage from Chinese state media outlets, including China Daily, Beijing Review, and the Global Times. Duan Yuezhong is also listed as a researcher with the Charhar Institute (察哈爾學會), which describes itself as China’s leading non-governmental think tank on public diplomacy and international relations — though its own promotional PDF from 2017 notes that the “institute completes one or two research tasks assigned by the United Front Work Department of the [CCP] Central Committee every year.” The bio for Duan at the Charhar Institute also lists him as an overseas adviser to the Qingdao Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (青島市僑聯海外顧問) — a front organization under the CCP-run All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese — and as an editorial board member of China News Service’s World Chinese Media Yearbook, published under the aegis of the World Chinese Media Cooperative Union, a front organization operated by the UFWD through China News Service. 

Duna Médiaszolgáltató

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Duna Médiaszolgáltató (DMSZ) is Hungary’s sole public service broadcaster, established on July 1, 2015, and headquartered in Budapest. While DMSZ carries the formal designation of a public service broadcaster, analysts describe it as a shell entity under effective government control, whose CEO holds no functional autonomy. The network has been strongly criticized within the EU in recent years as a pro-government outlet indicative of a general slide in media freedoms in the country. DMSZ was created through a merger of four previously separate public media entities — Magyar Televízió (MTV), Magyar Rádió (MR), Duna TV, and the news agency Magyar Távirati Iroda (MTI) — under reforms carried out during the third government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (2014–2018). The broadcaster currently operates six television channels — including its flagship generalist channel Duna and the news channel M1 — seven radio stations, the MTI news agency, and online services. The broadcaster is also a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Keizei Koho Center

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The Keizai Koho Center (KKC), also known as the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs, was established in 1978 as an affiliate of Keidanren (日本經濟團體連合會), a corporate membership federation that is one of Japan’s three major economic organizations. KKC describes itself as a “platform” for the Japanese business community to engage with domestic and international stakeholders, conducting programs through which some 700 companies and 40 industry associations seek to develop ties with lawmakers, government officials, scholars, journalists, business executives, and educators. KKC also analyzes public policy and the Japanese economy, publishes expert commentary and organizes meetings with foreign media to facilitate exchanges between journalists and its member corporations.

China-SCO Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Forum

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The Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Forum (中国—上海合作组织人工智能合作论坛) of the 2025 China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization (上海合作組織) convened in Tianjin on May 29, 2025, under the theme “Intelligence Converges in China, Wisdom Benefits SCO” (智汇中国，慧聚上合). Co-hosted by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展和改革委员会), or NDRC, a ministerial-level department that coordinates the development policies of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, and the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government, the forum brought together ministerial-level representatives from SCO member states, UNESCO, and industry and academic experts to discuss AI governance, technology breakthroughs, and application scenarios. Its key outcome was the release of the “China-SCO AI Application Cooperation Center Proposal” (中国—上海合作组织人工智能应用合作中心方案), calling for a joint platform to support talent development, industrial partnerships, and open-source AI cooperation across the region. While the proposal was loudly proclaimed through Chinese state media, a full-text version of the document remained unavailable as of March 2026.

Tianjin Municipal People’s Government

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The Tianjin Municipal People’s Government (天津市人民政府) is the chief administrative body of Tianjin, a directly administered municipality under the central government of the People’s Republic of China. It oversees the day-to-day governance of the municipality, including economic planning, public services, urban development, and the implementation of national policy at the local level. As with all levels of government in China, the Municipal People’s Government operates subordinate to and under the leadership of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (中國共產黨天津市委員會), which sets the political direction and holds ultimate authority over governance in the municipality.