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Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

South International Communication Center

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Formerly known as the Guangdong Today International Communication Center (今日廣東國際傳播中心), with the chief media brand “GDToday,” this ICC in the southern province of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong, was renamed the South International Communication Center (南方國際傳播中心), or SICC, in July 2025. The center describes itself as having been designated by Guangdong provincial authorities as “the main platform for Guangdong’s external communication.” South operates multilingual news websites, an English-language mobile app, and social media accounts across platforms, including Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, claiming to reach over 20 million overseas users and partnerships with over 1,000 global media outlets. The center produces content in English, Portuguese, French, and Cantonese, aiming to “tell China’s story well” through showcasing Guangdong and the Greater Bay Area to international audiences.

Presidency of the Republic of Peru

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The Presidency of the Republic of Peru (Presidencia de la República del Perú), administered through the Presidential Office (Despacho Presidencial), was established under Peru’s first constitution in 1823. According to Peru’s official government platform, the office focuses on publicizing the president’s activities and engagements. Its core function is to offer administrative support to the head of state.

Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China

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The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is a cabinet-level constituent department of the State Council responsible for China’s fiscal policy, national budget management, and tax legislation. Established in 1949, it functions as the central treasury, managing state revenues, government expenditure, and the issuance of domestic and external debt. Unlike its counterparts in some Western nations, the MOF shares macroeconomic management with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and state-owned industry oversight with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). A critical role of the MOF is serving as the ultimate shareholder and supervisor of major state-run financial conglomerates.

The Filipino-Chinese Amity Club

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The Filipino-Chinese Amity Club (菲華聯誼總會) is a Philippines-based overseas Chinese community organization. It was founded in 1974, one year before the normalization of China-Philippines diplomatic relations. The Club is described as a “patriotic organization” (愛國團體) that has operated “under the strong support of the Chinese embassy in the Philippines” (在中國駐菲使館的大力支持下), regularly inviting Chinese delegations to visit and organizing trade missions to China, including to China’s import and export fair in Canton. The Club published Lianyi Weekly (聯誼週刊) — or “Friendship Weekly” — in 1978, which later became The World News (菲律賓世界日報), which now advertises itself as the Philippines’ largest Chinese-language daily. Both the language of “frIendship” in the original publication title and the reference to “amity” in the club’s name suggest a close relationship with what China calls “united front work,” he effort to cultivate loyalty and political alignment among overseas Chinese communities and foreign elites in service of the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic interests abroad. In October 2022, the Club hosted a study session promoting the Chinese Communist Party’s annual legislative session, the 20th National Congress, which cites the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines. In May 2023, it was awarded the “Light of the Chinese Community” (華社之光) title at the 10th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations （第十屆世界華僑華人社團聯誼大會) in Beijing –  an event co-hosted by China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which since 2018 has functioned as an external name of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. The Club has branches across the Philippines, including in Cebu, Central Luzon, and Davao, and its stated mission includes promoting China-Philippines friendship and Chinese cultural preservation among the overseas Chinese community.

Canal 6

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Canal 6 (第六頻道) is a Nicaraguan state television channel based in Managua, and the flagship broadcaster of the Ortega government’s media apparatus. Founded in 1957 as a private channel owned by members of the Somoza family, it was nationalized following the 1979 Sandinista Revolution and integrated into the state-controlled Sistema Sandinista de Televisión. The channel subsequently went through a period of insolvency and was off the air for nearly a decade before being revived under President Daniel Ortega after his return to power in 2007. It is formally operated by Negocios Publicitarios Internacionales S.A. (NEPISA), a government-linked company. Canal 6 operates within a broader media landscape in which the Ortega-Murillo family controls the overwhelming majority of Nicaragua’s open-signal television channels.

Hainan Nanhai Research Foundation

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The Hainan Nanhai Research Foundation, registered as the Hainan Free Trade Port Research Foundation (海南自貿港研究基金會), was founded on September 11, 2006. The Foundation provides funding for research, training, and academic exchanges related to the South China Sea and Hainan’s Free Trade Port. It is affiliated with the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (中國南海研究院), a Chinese state-backed think tank established in 1996. The foundation also backs the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS) in Washington, D.C., which the expert Elizabeth Economy described in a 2017 piece the Council on Foreign Relations as “not a think tank but a channel for propaganda,” noting its commentary lacks any critical analysis of China. On the non-profit website Candid, a service for NGOs, the Hainan Nanhai Research Foundation describes its mission in security and foreign policy terms as “support[ing] and promot[ing] research and training in the South China Sea, [supporting] the country’s overall diplomatic service, and for the country to develop the strategic plan of services for the construction of Hainan Province maritime services.”

Institute for China-Europe Studies

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The Institute for China-Europe Studies (ICES) is a Brussels-based think tank with roots in China’s Hainan province that was founded in 2020 It publishes research, organizes events, and supports academic exchanges on China-Europe relations. The Institute’s publications cover EU trade defense instruments, critical raw materials, ocean governance, maritime law, and EU-China diplomatic relations. ICES organises webinars, roundtables, and an annual conference. It has also co-hosted events with international organizations such as the Washington-based Institute China-America Studies (ICAS) and the Carter Center. The Institute for China-Europe Studies was created by the Hainan Nanhai Research Foundation (海南自貿港研究基金會) which is a funding body that supports South China Sea research, training programs, and policy consultation work. That foundation shares both its physical address and its website URL with the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (中國南海研究院), or NISCSS, a government-backed research institute dedicated to advancing China’s position on South China Sea sovereignty disputes and based in Hainan’s capital of Haikou. The director of ICES is Wu Shicun (吳士存), who is also founding president of the above-mentioned NISCSS and a member of the Foreign Ministry’s Foreign Policy Advisory Committee (外交部外交政策咨詢委員會). The institute’s executive director is Yang Li (楊力), a former diplomat in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to cooperating with NISCSS for international events, ICES has also partnered with the Beijing Club for International Dialogue (北京對話), which is affiliated with Shanghai’s Guangcha Online (觀察網), a media outlet with private participation that maintains a strongly pro-government and even nationalistic stance. The Beijing Club, launched in September 2014, is represented in registration documents by Jin Zhongwei (金仲伟), the founding editor of Guacha Online and a distinguished research fellow at Fudan University’s China Institute, a think tank led by one of China’s core official strategists on external propaganda, professor Zhang Weiwei (张维为), who led a study session for the CCP Politburo on the top in May 2021.

University of International Business and Economics

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The University of International Business and Economics (對外經濟貿易大學), was founded in 1951 in Beijing and is directly under the control of China’s Ministry of Education and co-run with the Ministry of Commerce. The university specializes in economics, trade, law, and management,  fields that the university describes as its core academic strengths. It was originally established as China’s first higher education institution dedicated to training foreign trade professionals and it hosts over 160 research centres and, in line with a broader nationwide drive following the enshrinement of Xi Jinping Thought in the Party constitution in 2017, after which dozens of universities across China rapidly established dedicated research bases, it hosts a Beijing based research institute for the study of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (習近平新時代中國特色社會主義思想). UIBE currently has partnerships with 397 universities and institutions across 62 countries and regions.

National Institute for South China Sea Studies

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The National Institute for South China Sea Studies (中國南海研究院) is a Chinese public institution and think tank, headquartered in Haikou, Hainan Province, under the Hainan provincial government. The institute describes itself as “a national-level specialist think tank” (國家級特色專業智庫), with more than 50 researchers across five divisions covering maritime law and policy, South China Sea history and culture, regional studies, maritime security, and public diplomacy, and states its mission includes providing policy support for China’s South China Sea sovereignty and maritime rights positions, as well as promoting regional ocean governance. Its predecessor, the Hainan Research Center for the South China Sea (海南南海研究中心), was founded in 1996 and in July 2004 was renamed under its current designation. A Beijing branch of the Institute was established in January 2013 when then-president Wu Shicun (吳士存) said that the branch was established to provide a “more direct and convenient way to hear the central government’s voice and receive policy and operational guidance from relevant state departments.” Wu, who frequently speaks through Chinese state media on South China Sea issues, is also identified as the president of the Institute for Europe-China Studies. While his public bio emphasizes his academic credentials, including a doctorate in modern Chinese history from Nanjing University, Wu spent more than a decade rising through Hainan’s provincial foreign affairs and overseas Chinese affairs apparatus, serving successively as deputy director, director, and Party secretary, before taking on his current role. He has served since 2013 as a Hainan provincial people’s congress standing committee member and provincial party committee member.