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All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

China Signs Media Deal With RTVC

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On October 24, 2023, a signing ceremony for the “China Time” project was held at RTVC Sistema de Medios Públicos (Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia) in Bogotá. The signing established a formal media cooperation agreement between Colombian public broadcaster RTVC and Chinese media entities as part of the “Chinese Television Theater” initiative’s expansion into Latin America. The project was organized by China’s National Radio and Television Administration (國家廣播電視總局) and the Chongqing Municipal Government. Chongqing Jiazuo Film and Culture Media Co. (重慶佳左影視文化傳媒有限公司) and Classic Media China Internacional (經典傳媒中國國際有限公司), a Chinese-based company operating in Peru, signed the cooperation memorandum with the Colombian broadcaster. The ceremony featured exhibitions of Chongqing’s cultural heritage, including paper cutting, embroidery, lacquer screens, tea ceremonies, and Tai Chi performances. According to Chinese state media, the program aims to broadcast Chinese television series, documentaries, and films to “nearly 500 million Latin American viewers,” including shows like The Three-Body Problem, Mountain and Sea Love, and youth-oriented narratives. Chinese officials described the agreement as having “milestone significance” in China’s media collaboration with Latin American countries.

Xinjiang Associations and Nan Hai Media Host New Year Gala

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A gala performance for the Lunar New Year was held in Sydney on February 8, 2016, showcasing Xinjiang culture to overseas Chinese communities. The event was co-organized by the Australian Chinese Arts and Literature Association (澳華文聯), Australia’s Nanhai Media (南海傳媒), and the Australia-China Xinjiang Association (澳大利亞中國新疆聯誼會). The evening featured top Xinjiang artists performing Uyghur songs, dances, instrumental music, and variety performances, including selections from the Twelve Muqam, designated a UNESCO World Heritage in 2005. The “Cultural China, Charming Xinjiang” touring program, launched in 2006, had previously performed in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, India, and Malaysia, reaching over 70,000 audience members.

China Signs AI Cooperation Pact with Brazil

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During a diplomatic meeting in Brazil on July 5, 2025, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委) signed a series of agreements with Brazilian government agencies, including an artificial intelligence cooperation pact witnessed by both nations’ leaders. The memorandum of understanding establishes what the Chinese government describes as a “China-Brazil Artificial Intelligence Application Cooperation Center” (中国－巴西人工智能应用合作中心), with stated goals of “strengthening AI development foundations, providing open-source services, enhancing industrial innovation partnerships, and promoting talent development.” Vice Chairman Liu Sushe (刘苏社) represented China’s DRC in signing the bilateral agreements with Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Presidential Office’s Civil Affairs department.

SBS Australia Signs Deal With Chinese State Broadcaster

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SBS Australia struck an agreement with the CCP-run media conglomerate China Media Group (中央广播电视总台), or CMG, in March 2018, to broadcast news bulletins on its SBS World Watch channel, including 30-minute Mandarin-language bulletins from China Central Television (中国中央电视台, CCTV) and 15-minute English-language bulletins from CGTN (中国环球电视网), the broadcaster’s global arm. CMG operates under the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department with the mandate of “propagating the party’s theories, directions, principles and policies” and “telling China’s stories well.” SBS defended the arrangement by stating it clearly identified content sources and would monitor international news services to ensure compliance with its codes of practice, while providing balance through its own locally produced news and SBS Mandarin radio programming. SBS suspended the CGTN and CCTV broadcasts in March 2021 following complaints from Safeguard Defenders alleging the channels had broadcast forced confessions.

China and Australia Sign Six Media Cooperation Agreements

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A China-Australia media exchange and cooperation signing ceremony was held in Sydney on May 27, 2016, where six agreements were signed between Chinese and Australian media organizations. Zhou Zongmin (周宗敏), Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency (新華通訊社), signed a memorandum of understanding with Bob Carr, Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney and former Australian Foreign Minister. Other agreements included China Daily (中國日報社) with Fairfax Media Group, China Radio International (中國國際廣播電台) with Global CAMG Media, and People’s Daily Online with Australian News Channel. Carr stated that “media cooperation is an important channel for Australia to truly understand China.” The ceremony highlighted what Beijing characterized as the strengthening of bilateral media relationships within the broader China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership framework

Indonesian and Malaysian Journalists Visit Xinjiang

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Journalists from Indonesia and Malaysia visited the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from February 22-27, 2019, as part of the ASEAN Elites China Tour 2019. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, the group included a senior editor from the Indonesian newspaper Kompas, an assistant editor from the Malaysian newspaper Sinar Harian, the chief editor of the Indonesian digital platform IDN Times, and representatives from Liputan6, Metro TV,  and Antara (Indonesia’s national news agency). The journalists visited what Chinese authorities described as “vocational education and training centers” in the eastern Shule and Hotan County. Participants were quoted describing facilities as having “spacious buildings” and being “well-equipped,” with one journalist quoted by Xinhua saying that it was “not as reported by some news outlets.” Human rights organizations have criticized such government-organized tours as highly controlled and designed to counter international reporting that has documented serious human rights abuses in Xinjiang. International organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Office, have documented that more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been arbitrarily detained in these facilities since 2017, with torture and other abuses reported by former detainees.

Rimbunan Hijau Group

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The Rimbunan Hijau Group is a Malaysian multinational logging and diversified conglomerate founded in 1975 by Tan Sri Datuk Tiong Hiew King (張曉卿). Headquartered in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia, the group has an estimated annual turnover exceeding US$1 billion and operates across multiple countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Russia, Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. The company is involved in forestry, oil palm plantations, media, information technology, hospitality, aquaculture, general trading, biotechnology, plastic manufacturing, mining, property development, and human capital development. In Papua New Guinea, Rimbunan Hijau is the largest single logging operator and owns one of the country’s major newspapers, The National, which it established in 1993. The company has faced criticism from environmental groups, with a World Bank report estimating that up to 70 percent of logging in Papua New Guinea is illegal, though the company maintains it operates within legal frameworks.

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)

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Established in 2000, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (中非合作论坛) functions as China’s primary multilateral mechanism for engaging with 53 African nations, excluding only Eswatini which maintains ties with Taiwan. While Beijing presents FOCAC as a partnership of equals guided by its “Five Nos” policy—including non-interference and no political conditions on aid—critics note these principles often serve China’s strategic interests in securing resources and diplomatic support. Since 2018, FOCAC has been explicitly folded into China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with Beijing making headline-grabbing financial pledges ($60 billion in both 2015 and 2018) that combine loans, investments, and limited grants, though actual disbursement figures remain difficult to verify independently. The FOCAC Office is located within the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Filipino-Chinese Amity Club Runs Photo Event on WWII Victory

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On July 14, 2025, the Filipino-Chinese Amity Club (菲華聯誼總會), a Philippines-based overseas Chinese organization with close ties to China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), hosted a photo exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of victory in the “World Anti-Fascist War” (世界反法西斯戰爭) — the official Chinese Communist Party framing of World War II — at the Philippine Cultural College (菲律賓僑中學院) in Manila. The event was co-organized by the Philippine Association of Descendants of the “Huazhi” (菲律賓「華支」後裔聯誼會), a group representing descendants of the Chinese anti-Japanese resistance in the Philippines, and was reported by China News Service (中國新聞網), an official PRC newswire under the UFWD. Club Chairman Cai Mingfeng (蔡明豐) told attendees that “countless forebears exchanged their lives for today’s dawn of peace,” and called on younger generations to “see the cruelty of war” through the 123 photographs on display. Li Xiangzhao (李向昭), chairman of the Huazhi descendants association, said the exhibition aimed to “take history as a mirror.” The event followed the same organizational template as a similar exhibition held the following month in Angeles City, also organized by the club.