Skip to main content

Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

Vijesti

Written by Editors on .

Vijesti is a Montenegrin daily newspaper founded in 1997 and based in Podgorica. Identifying itself with the label “independent daily” (nezavisni dnevnik), the paper is owned by its four founders (59 percent), the Austrian media company Styria Medien AG (25 percent), and the US-based Media Development Investment Fund (16 percent). Vijesti maintains a centre to centre-left editorial stance with pro-European and anti-corruption positions. The newspaper has a print circulation of approximately 2,900 and receives over 6 million online visits monthly. In May 2018, Vijesti investigative reporter Olivera Lakić was shot outside her home in Podgorica while covering crime and corruption stories.

Media Development Investment Fund

Written by Editors on .

Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), formerly Media Development Loan Fund, is a New York-registered not-for-profit corporation with 501(c)(3) public charity status founded in 1995 by Saša Vučinić and Stuart Auerbach. The organization specializes in impact investing, providing low-cost debt, equity, and quasi-equity financing to independent news and information businesses in countries with a history of media oppression. Over 30 years, MDIF has provided 330.5 million dollars in total financing and currently manages 125.8 million in assets, having invested in 158 media companies across 50 countries. The fund helps journalists build sustainable businesses around professional, quality journalism. In 2016, Russia declared MDIF an “undesirable” organization and banned it.

Styria Medien AG

Written by Editors on .

Styria Media Group, or Styria Medien AG, is one of Austria’s largest media companies, founded in 1869 and headquartered in Graz. The company emerged from the Catholic Press Association in the Diocese of Graz-Seckau and remains 98.33 percent owned by the Catholic Media Association Private Foundation (Katholischer Medien Verein Privatstiftung). Styria operates internationally with significant holdings in Slovenia and Croatia, employing approximately 2,500 people who generated combined market revenue of 420 million EUR in 2023. The company’s portfolio spans daily and weekly newspapers (including the flagship Kleine Zeitung), magazines, book publishers, radio stations, and digital marketplaces. Styria positions itself as a forward-looking, independent media group guided by its purpose to provide guidance, build trust, and foster community.

Chinese Embassy Pressures Montenegro Newspaper

Written by Editors on .

The Chinese Embassy in Montenegro demanded that the Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti remove an interview with Taiwan representative to Hungary Liu Shih-chung on March 11, 2024, one day after its publication. The interview, published March 10, covered Taiwan’s democratic development, the impact of the Russo-Ukraine War on the Taiwan Strait, and criticized China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the Balkans, alleging that it had caused debt crises and encouraged corruption. Vijesti rejected the embassy’s request, stating it is an independent and free news outlet and that the content “cannot be removed.” The incident represents direct Chinese official pressure on foreign media to censor content related to Taiwan.

Guangzhou Hosts Cross-Strait and Southeast Asia Media Tour

Written by Editors on .

More than 40 Chinese-language journalists and creators from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia took part in the “2025 Cross-Strait and Southeast Asian Chinese-Language Media Guangzhou Tour” (两岸暨港澳·东南亚华文媒体广州行) on December 2, 2025, in Guangzhou. The three-day program, themed “New Quality in the Bay Area, New Colors in Yangcheng” (湾区新质 羊城新彩), brought participants to tech parks, industrial zones, and cultural landmarks — emphasizing the official framing of the “Greater Bay Area,” a development vision including southern Chinese cities along with Hong Kong and Macau. The event was hosted by the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (海峡两岸关系协会), or ARATS, and the Guangzhou Taiwan Affairs Office (广州市台办), together with the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Guangdong People’s Government (廣東省人民政府台灣事務辦公室) and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (國務院台灣事務辦公室). Ma Xiaoguang (马晓光), vice-president of ARATS, said the event aimed to showcase Guangzhou’s development and promote “telling China’s story” (讲好中国故事). At the launch ceremony, the original song “Hand in Hand” (心手相牵), which coverage by the CCP’s official People’s Daily called “a collaboration between Guangzhou and Taiwan,” was released, along with a propaganda micro-documentary series. Among the participants in the event, one report mentioned the presence of Li Yixiu (李易修), a pro-China Taiwanese influencer known as “History Brother” (歷史哥), and a “Taiwan youth” identified as Yang Shuping (杨舒评).

Taiwan Affairs Office of the Guangzhou People’s Government

Written by Editors on .

The Taiwan Affairs Office of the Guangzhou People’s Government (廣州市人民政府台灣事務辦公室) is the municipal implementation of CCP Taiwan policy in Guangzhou, operating under the “one institution, two names” system as the Taiwan Work Office of the CCP Guangzhou Municipal Committee (中共廣州市委台灣工作辦公室). The office implements central and provincial directives at the local level, coordinating cross-strait economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, and Taiwan business affairs in Guangzhou and its districts. It administers the “Guangzhou 60 Measures” (廣州60條惠及台胞措施), a policy framework targeting Taiwanese residents and businesses with incentives and preferential treatment, and facilitates integration of Taiwan enterprises into the Greater Bay Area (GBA), the official name for the planned multi-city development area encompassing Guangdong’s Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong and Macau. The office reports to both the municipal Party committee and the provincial TAO.

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits

Written by Editors on .

The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (海峽兩岸關係協會), or ARATS, is a government-organized non-governmental organization established in 1991 by the CCP’s Taiwan Affairs Office to conduct ostensibly civilian cross-strait negotiations. Despite presenting itself as a semi-official body handling technical and business matters, ARATS functions as a united front organization advancing Beijing’s political agenda under the guise of practical cooperation. Its counterpart is Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會), or SEF. Talks stalled from 1999 to 2008, resuming under Taiwan’s KMT administration to produce agreements like the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. The president of the association in 2025 was Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), who previously served as director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, underscoring ARATS’s direct Party control.

Chinese Consulate General in Milan

Written by Editors on .

The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Milan (中華人民共和國駐米蘭總領事館) is China’s diplomatic mission serving northern Italy, established in May 1985, following the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Italy on November 6, 1970. The consulate serves the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont, and Veneto, providing consular services including visa processing and assistance to Chinese nationals. 

Deutsche Welle

Written by Editors on .

Deutsche Welle (DW) is a German international broadcaster founded in 1953 and operating as a public service media organization with headquarters in Bonn and Berlin. DW provides content in more than 30 languages, covering topics including democracy, human rights, press freedom, and cultural exchange. Through DW Akademie, its educational arm, the organization provides journalism training and media development programs globally, as well as research on media sustainability, supporting press freedom and freedom of expression worldwide. DW operates under Germany’s Deutsche Welle Act, which ensures editorial independence from state control despite public funding.