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Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

Xinhua News Agency

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Xinhua News Agency, established on November 7, 1931, as the Red China News Agency in Ruijin, Jiangxi province, is China’s official state news agency operating as a ministry-level institution under the State Council. The agency adopted its current name in January 1937 while headquartered in Yan’an, Shaanxi. Its headquarters is located near Zhongnanhai in Beijing, with the current president and Party Secretary Fu Hua (傅華), who was appointed in June 2022. By 2021, Xinhua had 181 bureaus globally, though more recent sources indicate over 170 overseas bureaus as of 2024, and publishes in multiple languages. Xinhua serves as the country’s leading news agency within the CCP’s news control system. Xinhua official news releases, or tonggao (通稿), are regarded as the authoritative version of events such as political meetings and CCP policy statements — authoritative in the sense that leadership approves them. In press orders and bans from the Central Propaganda Department, media will be instructed to “use only Xinhua releases” on particular stories. Today, Xinhua functions as an important channel for China’s leadership to disseminate its preferred narrative globally.

Chongqing Daily News Group

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The Chongqing Daily News Group was established on October 18, 2001, as the official media arm of the Chongqing Municipal Communist Party Committee. Its flagship publication, Chongqing Daily (重慶日報), was founded on August 5, 1952, with then-party leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) personally calligraphing the masthead and providing an inscription during his tenure as Southwest Bureau Secretary. The group claims to have expanded from three newspapers before Chongqing’s designation as a centrally-administered municipality to a conglomerate encompassing 15 newspapers, 3 magazines, 15 websites, and over 20 commercial subsidiaries. While positioning itself as implementing “dual-wheel drive” combining “news undertakings and business operations,” the organization functions as a state propaganda apparatus under party directives rather than as an independent journalistic enterprise, reflecting the broader structure of Chinese state media where editorial control remains subordinate to political objectives.

ASEAN-China Center

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The ASEAN-China Center (中國—東盟中心) is the sole intergovernmental organization between ASEAN and China, established in November 2011 during the 14th ASEAN-China Summit and headquartered in Beijing. Operating as a one-stop information and activities hub, the Center promotes cooperation in trade, investment, education, culture, and tourism through four operational divisions: General Affairs and Coordination, Trade and Investment, Education Culture and Tourism, and Information and Public Relations. Key functions include facilitating business partnerships, coordinating cultural and educational exchanges, conducting market research, supporting small and medium enterprises, managing a permanent exhibition hall, and providing comprehensive data banking services. The non-profit organization operates under a Memorandum of Understanding between ASEAN member states and China, governed by a Joint Council and Joint Executive Board, with capacity-building initiatives particularly focused on supporting less developed ASEAN countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

Khovar News Agency

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Khovar News Agency, officially known as the National Information Agency of Tajikistan, was established on December 31, 1925, during the period of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The agency functions as Tajikistan’s state news agency, publishing content in Tajik, Russian, English, Arabic, and Persian languages. On April 30, 2004, a governmental decree designated Khovar as the central state information body with official authorization to collect and distribute information about the president, Supreme Assembly, and government activities. The agency also operates Radio Khovar FM, which started broadcasting in 2011.

Uryadovy Kuryer

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Uryadovy Kuryer, or “Government Courier,” is the official newspaper of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers, published since October 1990. A state-owned enterprise publishing in Ukrainian five times weekly, it serves as the primary outlet for government decrees, laws, and presidential activities. Initially edited by Mykhailo Soroka and now by Sergii Braga (Сергій Брага), the paper is consistently ranked among Ukraine’s top three newspapers. As an official government publication, it publishes legally binding texts including Cabinet resolutions and parliamentary laws. The paper, according to the description on its website, is relied upon by international agencies like Reuters and Bloomberg.

Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd.

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DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence company based in Hangzhou that develops large language models. Founded in July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng (梁文鋒), who also co-founded and leads the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer (幻方), the company gained prominence in January 2025 with the release of its DeepSeek-R1 model. The company made headlines for developing AI models comparable to industry leaders like OpenAI’s GPT-4o but at a fraction of the cost—claiming to have trained its V3 model for just $6 million compared to GPT-4’s estimated $100 million. This cost efficiency, achieved partly in response to US restrictions on Nvidia chip exports to China, sent “shockwaves” through global markets, contributing to a historic $600 billion drop in Nvidia’s market value. DeepSeek’s models are released under MIT License as “open weight” software, though this provides less freedom for modification than true open-source alternatives.

Yunnan South Asia and Southeast Asia International Communication Center

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The Southeast Asia International Communication Center (雲南省南亞東南亞區域國際傳播中心) is a center created in May 2022 by the propaganda office of the Yunnan Committee of the CCP. Part of a nationwide plan to leverage local media for global propaganda initiated by the leadership in 2018, and accelerating from 2021, the center is directed toward neighboring South Asian countries with focus on environmental and water management issues—key to China’s role in the Golden Triangle region. Officially approved by the Central Propaganda Department and guided by Yunnan Province’s publicity department, the center is operated by the Yunnan Daily newspaper group. Its positioning is described as building “the main battlefield” (主阵地) for serving China’s radiation center construction toward South and Southeast Asia, “the testing ground” (试验田) for China’s international communication toward South and Southeast Asia, and “the new high ground” (新高地) for “telling good stories of Beautiful China and Colorful Yunnan” (讲好美丽中国七彩云南故事). The center includes internal organizations like Lancang-Mekong Media (澜湄传媒) and houses a regional international communication research institute, demonstrating Beijing’s systematic approach to expanding media influence through strategically positioned local outlets targeting specific geographic and thematic priorities across the region.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Yunnan ICC Hosts Training Tour with Southeast Asia Journalists

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In early August 2025, the Yunnan Province People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (雲南省人民對外友好協會) and the Yunnan South and Southeast Asia Regional International Communication Center (雲南省南亞東南亞區域國際傳播中心), the province’s office tasked with external propaganda (外宣) work, organized a five-day media training and cultural exchange program, bringing together more than 20 young bloggers and media practitioners from China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Participants visited historical sites including the Nanqiao Mechanic Museum (南僑機工分館), which commemorates the more than 3,000 overseas Chinese mechanics who supported China’s war effort during WWII by maintaining the vital Burma Road supply route. As they discussed the topic of peace, participants in the program also learned video production and AI techniques. In a PRC political context, references to “peace” as frequently used in diplomatic exchanges generally include the absence of interventionism and colonialism — making the case for China as a benevolent partner. The Yunnan South and Southeast Asia Regional International Communication Center was founded in May 2022 under the propaganda office of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the CCP, the province’s top leadership. While a full list of participants was not made public, two participants mentioned in related reports included a Vietnamese student from Beijing Foreign Studies University (北京外國語大學) and a Malaysian student from Xiamen University (廈門大學).

Yunnan Province People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

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The Yunnan Province People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (雲南省人民對外友好協會) is a provincial-level foreign friendship organization managed by the Yunnan Provincial Government’s Foreign Affairs Office (FAO). The association coordinates international cooperation through civilian channels to support Yunnan’s economic development and opening-up policies. It manages sister city relationships, having facilitated 77 partnerships with Belt and Road countries, including 55 with South and Southeast Asian nations, according to a description on its website. Since 2022, the organization has implemented the “Heart Connection, Yunnan Journey” (心联通 云南行) public welfare project, conducting civilian cooperation in neighboring countries and supporting social organizations in healthcare collaboration in Myanmar and Laos. But external propaganda is a key priority of the association, as noted explicitly in this event held in August 2024 with Sri Lanka.