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Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

Xinhua Hosts China-Poland Economic Forum in Warsaw

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On June 17, 2025, in Warsaw, Poland, China’s official Xinhua News Agency organized a forum with Li Danhong (李丹红), charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Poland, Polish Media Association (波兰媒体协会) President Marek Traczyk, and former Polish Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechocinski attending at Lukaszewski University. Xinhua claimed in official coverage that the event would “enhance economic cooperation and mutual understanding” between the countries, with Li presenting China’s commitment to “building an open global economy” and “sharing the dividends of its modernization,” while Traczyk, using terms clearly echoing the official discourse of the CCP, described it as enabling “mutually beneficial cooperation” and contributing to “world peace, development, and shared prosperity.” The forum positions itself as promoting bilateral exchanges through China’s visa-free policy, but the emphasis on China’s development model presentation and standard diplomatic language about “shared prosperity” (共同富裕) suggests soft power objectives rather than independent economic dialogue.

Xinhua Hosts Reuters, AP, and AFP in Beijing

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On December 1, 2023, Xinhua News Agency hosted leaders from the global newswires Reuters, AFP, and the Associated Press in Beijing, with Xinhua President Fu Hua (傅華) proposing a “high-level dialogue and cooperation mechanism” among the agencies. The meeting preceded the fifth World Media Summit in Guangzhou and Kunming. The World Media Summit (WMS), is a forum conceived by China in the midst of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and first held in October 2009, with the explicit idea on China’s part to expand its global influence and “discourse power” (話語權) through a semi-formal international mechanism under its leadership. Eight months ahead of the first meeting, Xinhua News Agency chief Li Congjun (李从军) wrote in the official periodical China Journalist that the event of conceived “[according] to the Central Committee’s strategic demand for ‘strengthening external propaganda’” (大外宣). At the 2023 event, participants discussed artificial intelligence, misinformation, and journalists’ safety. Fu Hua proposed expanded partnerships for video distribution and mutual humanitarian assistance in conflict zones. The gathering represented Xinhua’s effort to position itself alongside Western wire services, though the meeting’s outcomes and substantive commitments from participating agencies remained unclear from available reporting.

China-ASEAN Digital Academy and AI Industry Innovation Center Announced

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On January 14, 2026, at the China-ASEAN Digital Ecosystem Cooperation Networking Dinner in Hanoi, Vietnam — held alongside the 6th ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting — China and ASEAN formally announced plans to establish the China-ASEAN Digital Academy (中国—东盟数字学院) and the China-ASEAN AI Industry Innovation Center (中国—东盟人工智能产业创新中心). The event was co-organized by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) and the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (中国信息通信研究院), and attended by former Cambodian minister and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn (高金洪) and Chinese Vice Minister Zhang Yunming (张云明). The centers’ launch is scheduled for 2026, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, and forms part of the ASEAN-China Action Plan on Building a Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Ecosystem (2026-2030), aimed at developing digital talent, promoting open-source AI technology, and advancing AI security governance across the region.

ASEAN

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization established on August 8, 1967, in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by five founding members: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The bloc expanded over subsequent decades, with Brunei Darussalam joining in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, Cambodia in 1999, and Timor-Leste on October 25, 2025, bringing total membership to eleven states. ASEAN’s mandate spans economic integration, political-security cooperation, and sociocultural development across Southeast Asia. Its secretariat is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the context of China engagement, ASEAN has emerged as a key arena for Beijing’s media, technology, and AI diplomacy, including through bilateral trade frameworks such as the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and cooperative mechanisms covering digital infrastructure, AI governance, and cross-border data flows. In recent years, ASEAN and China have also moved to deepen media exchanges, part of a broader effort to strengthen people-to-people ties and shape shared narratives across the region.

China Academy of Information and Communication Technology

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The China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (中國信息通信研究院), or CAICT, is a state-affiliated research institution established in 1957 and directly subordinate to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工業和信息化部). The academy describes its mission as serving as a “national high-end professional think tank and an industrial innovation and development platform,” guided by the institutional motto “virtue and learning, industry and ambition” (厚德實學 興業致遠). Over the decades, CAICT has played a central role in shaping major strategies, plans, policies, standards, and testing and certification frameworks for China’s information and communications sector. In recent years, the academy has expanded its research portfolio to align with national strategies around China’s ambitions to be a “cyber power” (網絡強國) and “manufacturing power” (製造強國), with active work across 4G/5G, industrial internet, smart manufacturing, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, connected vehicles, cybersecurity, and virtual and augmented reality. CAICT plays a key role in AI development and policy-making in China, and in February 2026 published the Artificial Intelligence Industry Development Research Report (人工智能產業發展研究報告). The academy has also provided institutional support for major state initiatives including Internet+, the “Broadband China” strategy, and the integration of “informatization” and industrialization.

Negocios Publicitarios Internacionales S.A.

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Negocios Publicitarios Internacionales S.A. (NEPISA) is a Nicaraguan joint-stock company that formally operates Canal 6 (第六頻道) on behalf of the Ortega government. Although Canal 6 is presented publicly as a state channel, a 2022 investigation by the independent outlet Confidencial found that NEPISA is controlled by two close associates of the presidential family: lawyer José María Enríquez Moncada and Eduardo Germán Morales Cuadra, both of whom appear across a broader network of companies linked to the Ortega-Murillo family. The Nicaraguan presidency has never publicly explained Canal 6’s relationship with NEPISA, though an executive decree has placed the channel under presidential responsibility since 2012. NEPISA is part of a wider pattern of ostensibly private companies used to manage state media assets within Nicaragua’s consolidated, family-controlled media system.

Government of Honduras

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The Republic of Honduras is a presidential representative democratic republic in which the president serves as both head of state and head of government, elected to a single four-year term by a simple majority. The unicameral National Congress (國家議會) holds 128 seats. Nasry Asfura of the conservative National Party was inaugurated on January 27, 2026, following a close election that was highly contested. A former mayor of Tegucigalpa with a background in the construction sector, Asfura signaled a rightward turn in foreign policy, pledging to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan (Republic of China) and review the 16 agreements signed with China by his predecessor Xiomara Castro (希奧馬拉·卡斯特羅), who established relations with Beijing in March 2023, severing relations with Taiwan.

BSC Happy TV

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Happy TV is a privately-owned Serbian television broadcaster established in 2010 through the merger of two television channels, operating on a national frequency. Happy TV’s programming focuses on entertainment, including reality shows, international content such as Indian soap operas and Latin telenovelas, and talk shows. Its news programming has been characterized by some sources as “mostly pro-government and nationalistic,” with frequent appearances by members of the populist Serbian Progressive Party. 

Government of Nicaragua

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The Government of Nicaragua (尼加拉瓜政府) is the national government of the Republic of Nicaragua, a Central American state of approximately seven million people. Since 2007, Nicaragua has been governed by President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, representing the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which originated as a guerrilla group in 1961. The two have ruled as co-presidents since 2025. Under their joint administration, Nicaragua has experienced significant democratic backsliding, with independent media systematically dismantled and more than 50 outlets closed, leaving the country among the lowest in the region on press freedom indices. Nicaragua restored diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in December 2021, severing ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan), and has since deepened cooperation across trade, infrastructure, and media.