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Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

Russian Embassy in China

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The Russian Embassy in China (俄羅斯駐華大使館) is the diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation in Beijing, representing Russian interests and maintaining bilateral relations between Russia and China. The embassy facilitates political dialogue, consular services, trade relations, and cultural exchanges between the two nations. Russia maintains additional consulates general in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Hong Kong to serve its citizens and promote cooperation across multiple regions of China. The embassy plays a central role in coordinating high-level visits, implementing bilateral agreements, and supporting various cooperation mechanisms between Moscow and Beijing. It also provides visa services, assists Russian citizens abroad, and promotes Russian culture and education in China through various programs and initiatives.

SMG Co-hosts 2024 ENEX General Assembly

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The 31st ENEX General Assembly convened in Shanghai on September 26, 2024, co-hosted by the European News Exchange (ENEX) and the Shanghai Media Group (上海廣播電視台), or SMG, and organized by SMG International (上海文廣國際傳播中心). SMG International is Shanghai’s local international communication center (國際傳播中心), or ICC, part of Xi Jinping’s push to bring regional media groups into the larger project of national propaganda directed overseas. According to Chinese media, more than 70 delegates from 17 countries and regions gathered for the ENEX General Assembly to discuss the future of media development and transnational cooperation. In his opening remarks, the President of SMG said that global media need more cooperation and that they must “share factual news” (我们需要共享新闻事实) and “jointly capture objective and truthful international news” (共同捕捉客观真实的国际新闻). Far from calls to professionalism, as they might seem, these remarks reference the official view of China’s leadership, which holds that global public opinion is imbalanced against China — and that this state of affairs requires corrective measures. According to ENEX, the discussions centered on challenges facing the media sector, particularly the expanding impact of artificial intelligence and the complexities of covering international conflicts. SMG states that its mission is to build “the best practice ground for ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Culture’” — a reference to the media-related aspects of the CCP leader’s central political ideology — while also “disseminating public opinion and culture.”

Sky News

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Sky News is a British television news channel that began broadcasting on February 5, 1989. The network operates as an editorially independent division of Sky UK, whose parent company is Comcast NBCUniversal. Sky News provides 24-hour news coverage across television, digital platforms, and radio, reporting on UK and international stories with correspondents stationed around the world.

Al Arabiya

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Al Arabiya (العربية) is a state-owned international Arabic-language television news channel launched on March 3, 2003, in Saudi Arabia, with initial operations based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Founded by the brother-in-law of Saudi King Fahd as a direct response to Al Jazeera’s critical reporting on Saudi Arabia throughout the 1990s, the broadcaster is owned through the Middle East Broadcasting Center, also known as the MBC Group. While MBC Group has identified itself as “the largest and leading private multimedia company in the Middle East North Africa region,” it is 54 percent held by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The channel’s mission from its start was to offer a “balanced and less provocative” alternative to Al Jazeera — meaning more amenable to the interests of the Saudi royal family. Al Arabiya broadcasts a mix of standard news, talk shows, and documentaries, and its website is available in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Persian.

Egmont Group

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Founded in 1878 by Egmont Harald Petersen, Egmont is a Nordic media group that began as a printing business in Copenhagen. It operates more than 50 different businesses spanning television, film, publishing, gaming, and digital platforms. In 2012, Egmont acquired full ownership of TV 2 Direkte, having co-founded the broadcaster in 1991. 

European News Exchange

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The European News Exchange (ENEX) is an association of commercial television broadcasters established on December 14, 1993, operating as a news-sharing platform where members pool their news content. Beyond content sharing, ENEX also offers technical coordination, satellite distribution services, and media consulting. Initially a technical service for sharing news footage, the organization has evolved into a news provider. In 2022, ENEX had 55 members operating more than 75 channels globally, maintaining partnerships with organizations in Latin America and the Middle East. The organization has also expanded into Asia, with Shanghai Media Group (上海文廣集團) joining the platform. Every year, ENEX holds a general assembly, and in 2024, it convened in Shanghai in partnership with Shanghai Media Group and SMG International (上海文廣國際傳播中心), the group’s international communication center (ICC) tasked — like ICCs across the country formed since 2020 — with carrying out external propaganda and communication work.

Paramount Skydance Corporation

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Paramount Skydance Corporation is a major American entertainment conglomerate formed through the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media in July 2024, completed in August 2025. The company, headquartered in New York City, operates across film, television, and streaming platforms, including Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount+. Tencent Holdings (腾讯控股腾讯控股有限公司), the Chinese tech giant, purchased a minority stake in Skydance in 2018 and now owns just under five percent of the merged company. Tencent’s holding drew scrutiny from US lawmakers in early 2025, shortly after the US Department of Defense labeled the tech giant a “Chinese military company.”

TVBS

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TVBS is a Taiwanese cable television operator established in September 1993. Originally founded as a joint venture between Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts Limited (電視廣播有限公司) and Taiwan’s Era Group (年代集團), it became fully Taiwan-owned in March 2023 when consumer electronics manufacturer HTC Corporation acquired full ownership from its remaining stakeholders. The network currently operates five channels, including TVBS News, TVBS Entertainment, and the main TVBS channel.

Human Native AI

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Human Native.ai is a London-based data licensing platform founded in April 2024 by James Smith and Jack Galilee that connects AI developers with data rights holders, including publishers, record labels, and news organizations. Human Native.ai provides AI developers access to licensed content spanning text, video, audio, music, and code in multiple languages, while ensuring rights holders receive compensation for their work used in training large language models and other AI systems.