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Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

Thai Jiaranai Group

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Thai Jiaranai Group Public Company Limited (泰國亞洲大衆集團（大衆）有限公司) is a Bangkok-headquartered conglomerate with branch offices and representative offices in Beijing, Shantou, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It is the parent company of Thailand Headlines (泰國頭條新聞) — which describes itself as an outlet devoted to “telling China’s story,” an official CCP phrase for external propaganda — and describes itself as one of Thailand’s most influential ethnic Chinese business groups, claiming repeated commendation from Thailand’s Privy Council and designation as an official cooperation partner of multiple Thai government departments and state institutions. Its leadership, according to its own materials, has been received by senior officials on both the Chinese and Thai sides. In its corporate mission, the group describes following the principle of “transmitting positive energy” (a clear reference to Xi Jinping’s media control language). The group operates across media, commercial trade, event planning, real estate, cross-border e-commerce, program production, and charitable activities. Its media portfolio includes Thailand Headlines (泰國頭條新聞), ManGu Magazine (曼谷雜誌), and Thailand Diligence Bureau (泰國勤報局), with a claimed combined following across platforms exceeding ten million. In May 2023, Thailand Headlines publisher Guo Rui was arrested by Thai police on allegations of using her connections with a senior police official to demand 14 million baht from a Chinese suspect in exchange for dropping charges. She was released on bail. A earlier 2020 article on China Daily‘s website, republished from a provincial broadcaster, identified Zhang Cheng (章骋), also known as Zhang Peiyan (章培炎), as both chairman of CITIC Asia Investment International Co., Ltd. in Thailand (泰國中信亞洲投資國際有限公司) and a senior executive director of Thai Jiaranai Group. This would appear to link the Thai Jiaranai Group and China’s CITIC, one of the country’s largest state-owned conglomerates. However, a critical online post made to Blogspot in May 2015, which has since been deleted, alleged a broader pattern of fabricated institutional affiliations by Zhang — including falsely claiming to represent Alibaba in Thailand (“阿里巴巴集團在泰全權代理人”) and falsely presenting the group as embassy-affiliated (“冒充大使館”). This raises unanswered questions about the nature of the Thai Jiaranai Group’s connections with China. The Thai Jiaranai Group also operates Black Gold Entertainment (墨金娛樂), described as Thailand’s largest Sino-Thai cross-border multi-channel network, managing influencers and online celebrities for advertising and livestream commerce. The group additionally serves as the largest agent in Greater China for the Thailand Privilege Visa Program, and runs a real estate division.

Tourism Authority of Thailand

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The Tourism Authority of Thailand (การท่องเที่ยวแห่งประเทศไทย) is a state-owned enterprise established on May 4, 1979, under Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, headquartered in Ratchathewi, Bangkok. Its mandate is to promote Thailand’s tourism industry internationally and protect the tourism environment. Its predecessor organization dates to 1924. The authority is best known internationally for its long-running “Amazing Thailand” campaign and operates with an annual budget of approximately 7 billion baht. It is led by a governor appointed by the Thai government.

Nanfang Media Group Expands Partnership to Thailand and Malaysia

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In late October 2023, China’s Nanfang Media Group (南方報業傳媒集團) signed strategic cooperation framework agreements with eight media outlets across Thailand and Malaysia — expanding and upgrading a partnership framework the group first established with five Malaysian outlets in October 2021. Three Thai outlets joined for the first time: Asia News Time (亞洲日報), Chinese Headline New Media Thailand, and TAIGUO.COM. The five Malaysian partners from 2021 — Kwong Wah Yit Poh (光華日報), Oriental Daily News (東方日報), United Daily News (聯合日報), The Sun, and Malay Mail — were retained. Under the agreements, GDToday, Nanfang Media Group’s international platform, will conduct joint interviews and content production framed explicitly around Belt and Road Initiative messaging, ASEAN cooperation narratives, and promotion of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) — Beijing’s flagship strategy to economically and politically integrate Hong Kong and Macao with the mainland by binding them into a single high-tech manufacturing and financial hub anchored in Guangdong province.

Thai Jiaranai Group Co-Produces Tourism Promotion with Thailand’s Tourism Authority

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In April 2022, Thai Jiaranai Group (泰國亞洲大衆集團) co-produced and released a Thai tourism promotional music video, Sawasdeeka Bangkok (薩瓦迪卡曼谷), in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (泰國國家旅遊局), with additional co-producers including SaHa Group (協成昌集團) and Thailand Privilege Card. The song was written and composed by Thai Jiaranai Group chairman Guo Rui (郭蕊) — who has openly said the group’s primary mission within Thailand, echoing Xi Jinping, is to “tell China’s story well” and “build a correct, positive, and constructive discourse system in the Chinese language” — and vice president Zhong Muyue (鐘慕岳). It was released globally on April 8, 2022, and distributed across major Chinese platforms including QQ Music, Kuwo, Weibo, Douyin, and YouTube. While framed publicly as a tourism promotion, the production was described by Thai Jiaranai Group’s senior executive director Zhang Cheng (章骋) as “the latest friendship song symbolizing China-Thailand friendship” (象徵中泰友好的最新友誼之歌) — diplomatic language that goes beyond tourism marketing — and he explicitly connected it to the group’s earlier COVID solidarity anthem as part of a continuous mission of promoting China-Thailand friendship, with a distribution strategy that prioritized mainland Chinese platforms over international tourism channels.

Want Want China Times Media Group Delegation Visits Beijing Daily Group

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Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團) and Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) led a delegation to Beijing Daily Group (北京日報報業集團) on July 6, 2016, meeting with Beijing Daily Group president Fu Hua (傅華) and holding a joint working session. The two sides agreed to jointly organize the Second Cross-Strait Media Summit (第二屆兩岸媒體人北京峰會) in Beijing later that year, focusing on cross-strait youth exchange and industrial cooperation. Beijing CCP Committee Secretary and Politburo member Guo Jinlong (郭金龍) separately received the Want Want China Times delegation — including Tsai Eng-meng, former Taichung mayor and Want Want China Times Media Group vice chairman Hu Chih-chiang (胡志強), and Want Want Media Group president Tsai Shao-chung (蔡紹中) — and expressed the Beijing Municipal CCP Committee’s full support for cross-strait media cooperation, urging the two sides to develop the summit into the premier cross-strait media communication platform. At the session, Tsai Eng-meng said Want Want Group was considering establishing a cross-strait youth entrepreneurship and exchange park in Beijing. The visit was reported by Want News, a Want Want China Times subsidiary publication.

First Cross-Strait Media Summit Held in Beijing

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The First Cross-Strait Media Summit (第一屆兩岸媒體人北京峰會) was held in Beijing in late 2015, co-organized by Beijing Daily Group (北京日報報業集團) and Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團). The summit was the inaugural event in an annual series established under the strategic cooperation agreement the two groups signed in late 2014, providing a recurring institutional framework for bringing Taiwan media executives to Beijing for meetings with senior CCP officials and state media counterparts. The summit series ran annually from 2015, with the exception of 2018, through at least 2019. Want Want China Times Media Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) led the Taiwan delegation.

Want Want Group Chairman Meets Taiwan Affairs Office Director Following China Times Acquisition

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Following his acquisition of the China Times Group (中國時報集團) in November 2008, Want Want Group (旺旺集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) met with Taiwan Affairs Office (國台辦) director Wang Yi (王毅) in Beijing. According to an account subsequently published in Want Want’s internal company newsletter Want Want Monthly (旺旺月刊) and later reported by CommonWealth Magazine (天下雜誌), Tsai told Wang Yi that the acquisition was intended to promote cross-strait relations and that his outlets would follow instructions to report positively on the mainland. Wang Yi expressed the Taiwan Affairs Office’s full support for the China Times Group. The exchange was later cited by scholar He Qinglian (何清漣) in her book Red Infiltration (紅色滲透) as emblematic of CCP-aligned Taiwan media ownership.

Third Cross-Strait Media Summit Held in Beijing

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The Third Cross-Strait Media Summit (第三屆兩岸媒體人北京峰會) was held in Beijing in December 2017, themed around the thirtieth anniversary of cross-strait journalism exchange. Taiwan Affairs Office (國台辦) and Taiwan Work Office of the CCP Central Committee (中共中央台灣工作辦公室) director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) attended and addressed the gathering. Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團) and Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) and Want Want China Times Media Group vice chairman Hu Chih-chiang (胡志強) both attended. The summit was co-organized by Beijing Daily Group (北京日報報業集團) and Want Want China Times Media Group, as reported by The News Lens.

2022 Cross-Strait Chinese Character Festival Held in Taipei

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The 2022 Cross-Strait Chinese Character Festival (海峽兩岸漢字節) culminating event was held in Taipei on December 14, 2022. The festival was organized on the mainland side by the Haicang District Propaganda Office of the Chinese Communist Party (中共海滄區委宣傳部), the Haicang District Federation of Literary and Art Circles (海滄區文學藝術界聯合會), and the state-run Xiamen Daily (廈門日報社), published by the CCP Committee in Xiamen, with Taiwan’s Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時傳媒集團) serving as the Taiwan co-organizer. The annual character — “thought/longing” (思) — was announced at the Taipei ceremony, selected from more than 14.7 million votes. Excellence Magazine (卓越雜誌) president Xu Banghao (徐邦浩) participated and the magazine partnered with organizers to publish a companion volume in Taiwan. The festival, established in 2008 and anchored in Haicang since 2014, has been described by organizers as a platform for advancing cross-strait “emotional convergence” (心靈契合). The phrase originates with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who introduced it in 2014 as a central concept in his unification framework, describing the goal of unification as not merely formal but requiring that compatriots on both sides achieve a deeper spiritual and emotional alignment — a formulation that People’s Daily has since elaborated as the ideological basis for using cultural exchange to build Taiwan public acceptance of unification.