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All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jianwei Publishes Op-Ed in Thai Media

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On July 1, 2026, marking both the 105th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding and the 51st anniversary of China-Thailand diplomatic relations, Chinese Ambassador to Thailand Zhang Jianwei (張建衛) published a signed op-ed titled “Standing at a New Starting Point, Walking Well on the New Journey” (站在新起點，走好新征程) in Thai media, according to the Chinese Embassy’s own account. The embassy named three placements: Daily News, Matichon (民意報), and Top News. Independent republication also confirms placement in Khaosod English, the English-language arm of the Matichon Group, and Nation Thailand, the English-language arm of The Nation Group. The op-ed credited the CCP with lifting China from poverty to becoming the world’s second-largest economy, framed Chinese foreign policy as building a “community of shared future for mankind,” and cited a more than 6,000-fold increase in bilateral trade since 1975, China’s 13-year run as Thailand’s largest trading partner, and record 2026 tourist numbers as evidence of the relationship’s “vigorous” development ahead of what it called the two countries’ next “golden 50 years.”

People’s Daily and Thailand’s PRD Sign News Exchange MOU

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On July 20, 2026, the People’s Daily signed a memorandum of understanding on media cooperation with Thailand’s Public Relations Department (泰國民聯廳), or PRD, one of three separate media MOUs PRD concluded that day alongside Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group, as part of a package of 15 agreements marking the close of Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s official visit to China, during which Taiwan was a key flashpoint. PRD Director-General Sudruetai Lertkasem signed the agreements at the Great Hall of the People, witnessed by Anutin and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. According to an Instagram post by NBT World, PRD’s own state-run English-language international television channel, the agreement with the People’s Daily covers “the exchange and reciprocal distribution of original news content and media personnel,” with the stated goal of increasing Chinese audiences’ access to information about Thailand and “fostering mutual understanding.” The China-Thailand joint communiqué issued the same day separately commits both governments to strengthening “media, publishing, and broadcast film cooperation” and to “jointly combat fake news and disinformation.”

Xinhua Renews Media Cooperation MOU with Thailand PRD

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On July 20, 2026, Xinhua News Agency signed a memorandum of understanding with Thailand’s Public Relations Department (PRD), a body under the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for state public relations, aimed at strengthening cooperation in media operations management, digital transformation, and AI applications, according to a report by Xinhua. The signing was one of three parallel media MOUs the PRD concluded that day, alongside the People’s Daily and China Media Group, as part of a package of 15 agreements marking the close of Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s official visit to China, witnessed by Anutin and Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People. The agreement builds on a cooperation relationship dating to a first MOU signed in November 2019 and renewed in 2025. In an April 2026 meeting with Xinhua President Fu Hua, PRD Director-General Sudruetai Lertkasem proposed developing PRD into a “national information hub” modeled on Xinhua’s structure and invited Xinhua personnel to serve as advisors to the department.

Curierul Național Partners with CCTV

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On October 20, 2021, the Romanian business daily Curierul Național announced a partnership with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV (中國中央電視台) to publish daily Romanian-language news from China. The announcement described the deal as “unique” in the Romanian media landscape and said it would prioritize content “exclusively provided by CCTV” on business and investment opportunities, alongside coverage of foreign policy, the economy, health, and education. It noted that CCTV operates 18 thematic channels, including two in 4K and 8K format, and an international channel, CGTN, also broadcast in Romania. The outlet’s resulting “Current Events China” section is branded as produced in partnership with CCTV+, the international digital media arm of China’s state broadcaster, but individual articles within the section are bylined to both CCTV and China Radio International — a separate PRC state broadcaster — indicating the “CCTV partnership” draws on multiple outlets under China’s state broadcasting apparatus, both of which sit under China Media Group, itself directly under the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department. The announcement noted this was not Curierul Național’s first such tie: the outlet is a founding member of the Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership (BREIP), a Xinhua News Agency-initiated news-exchange platform launched in 2019 spanning news agencies and publications across Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania.

Thailand PRD Deputy Chief Delivers Keynote at Lancang-Mekong Media Summit

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On July 2, 2018, the 2018 Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Media Summit opened in Vientiane, Laos, hosted by the CCP’s official People’s Daily and Laos’s Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. A deputy director-general of Thailand’s Public Relations Department (泰國民聯廳), or PRD, delivered a keynote address. The official said Thailand had “actively responded to” China’s “Belt and Road” initiative and that Thai media likewise supported Lancang-Mekong cooperation. She described PRD as adapting its services and expanding its distribution channels to keep pace with Thailand’s shift to mobile and digital media consumption. Politburo member and Central Propaganda Department chief Huang Kunming also attended the summit, according to separate Xinhua reporting.

China Roundtable with CEE Journalists Held in Hebei

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On May 30, 2023, the All-China Journalists Association (中華全國新聞工作者協會), a Chinese Communist Party-led media body, convened a China–Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Journalists Roundtable in Wuqiao County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province, co-organized with the Hebei Provincial Journalists Association (河北省記協), according to a report by People’s Daily Online. Held under the theme “Deepening Exchange and Mutual Learning, Jointly Promoting Prosperity and Development” (深化交流互鑒 共促繁榮發展), the event gathered, according to the outlet, more than 40 guests and journalists from China and 14 Central and Eastern European countries, including Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Greece. Participants discussed media cooperation, including program exchanges and joint reporting plans. Before the roundtable, organizers arranged reporting visits to Wuqiao Acrobatics World, and journalists reportedly called the trip “a very meaningful and unforgettable experience” (非常有意義且難忘的體驗). The report said participants hoped to contribute to “telling the development stories of China and CEEC countries well” (講好中國和中東歐國家的發展故事), language echoing Xi Jinping’s signature external propaganda slogan, “telling China’s story well” (講好中國故事). The All-China Journalists Association has since held the roundtable annually in different Chinese cities, including Ningbo in 2024 and 2025, and Dunhuang in 2026, which the association describes as a key activity under the China–CEEC cooperation framework.

Hebei Provincial Journalists Association

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The Hebei Provincial Journalists Association (河北省新聞工作者協會), founded in April 1957, is a provincial-level organization operating under the leadership of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the CCP. The association describes itself as a “bridge” between the party and the press, stating that its mission includes guiding journalists in studying Xi Jinping Thought and upholding the “correct political direction” (正確的政治方向). The association also states that its duties include liaising with, guiding, and providing services to journalist associations in Hebei’s localities, and that it serves “international communication capacity-building” by helping “tell China’s story well” and “tell Hebei’s story well” (講好中國故事、河北故事).

Hebei Provincial Committee of the CCP

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The Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (中國共產黨河北省委員會) is the highest organ of CCP authority in Hebei Province. As with all provincial-level party committees in China, it sits above the provincial government in the political hierarchy — the committee’s Party Secretary outranks the governor. First convened on July 12, 1949, with Lin Tie as its founding secretary, the committee oversees all party work in Hebei, controls key personnel appointments across government, media, and state enterprises, and implements directives from the CCP Central Committee. Hebei Daily (河北日報), founded August 1, 1949, serves as the committee’s official media organ. As of January 2025, Ni Yuefeng (倪岳峰) serves as the committee’s Party Secretary. The committee’s headquarters are located at No. 46 Weiming South Street, Qiaoxi District, Shijiazhuang.

Chinese Ambassador to Georgia Meets with the President of GBTimes Oy

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On September 18, 2015, Yue Bin (岳斌), then Chinese ambassador to Georgia, met with Zhao Yinong (趙亦農), president of GBTimes Oy, a Chinese state-linked media company operating in Finland, according to a report published by the Chinese Embassy in Georgia. The ambassador congratulated Zhao on establishing the company’s operations in Georgia and said he hoped it would expand reporting on China to deepen Georgian “understanding and sentiment” (瞭解與情感) toward China. GBTimes Oy, headquartered in Tampere, produces China-related radio, print, and online content for European audiences. A Reuters investigation found that a subsidiary of the state-run China Radio International (CRI), Guoguang Century Media Consultation Co., held a 60 percent ownership stake in GBTimes Oy, and that Zhao told Reuters CRI paid his company “several million euros” annually — a little over half of GBTimes’ total revenue — to produce China-focused programming for European audiences.