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Entity Type: Domestic Association or Organization

Chinese Journalists Association of Taiwan

The Chinese Journalists’ Association of Taiwan (中華新聞記者協會) is a Taiwan-based media organization that received approval for its charter on February 8, 2012. The nonprofit association — which should not be confused with the more recognized Association of Taiwan Journalists (台灣新聞記者協會), a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) — operates with a board of 25 directors and seven supervisors elected for four-year terms. The organization says that its purpose is to promote research in journalism and foster national social development by hosting activities such as journalism competitions, cultural exhibitions, and scholarship programs. However, the association operates in the gray area between professional journalism and advocacy for cross-strait media relations. While maintaining the institutional trappings of a standard media association, and promoting press freedom in its charter, the organization also defines its role as “promoting cross-strait and international news exchange,” suggesting alignment with China. The organization’s board participated in the “Fifth Cross-Strait Media Summit” (第五届两岸媒体人峰会) in Beijing in October 2024, where representatives affirmed that “Taiwanese people are Chinese people,” and emphasized the media’s role as a bridge across the strait. The organization and its leadership regularly appear in Chinese state media coverage, including from agencies linked to the United Front Work Department. The association has also sponsored events such as the “Liaoning-Taiwan Perspectives: Envisioning the Future” (遼台視界,鏡啟未來) — with programming that frames China as an economic opportunity for Taiwanese while subtly advancing unification themes.

Union of Cyprus Journalists

The Union of Cyprus Journalists (Ένωση Συντακτών Κύπρου), or UCJ, is Cyprus’ independent trade union association for journalists, established on April 8, 1959. The organization aims to safeguard press freedom, defend journalists’ rights and independence, improve employment conditions — including a call in 2024 for decent salaries and better working conditions — and enhance professional standards. UCJ is a member of the European Federation of Journalists.

Paris Olympic Organizing Committee

On October 23, 2023, China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), or CMG, and the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee signed a cooperation memorandum in Paris regarding broadcasting the Olympics and related media promotion programs. The agreement outlined CMG’s role as a host broadcaster, deploying over 2,000 personnel to produce international broadcast signals for gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, and sport climbing using “5G+4K/8K+AI” technology. CMG President Shen Haixiong (慎海雄), and Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet signed the memorandum. The agreement also covered promotional programming and “telling the Olympic stories” of Beijing and Paris. Estanguet praised Beijing’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, without mentioning that the event faced diplomatic boycotts over human rights concerns in Xinjiang. Estanguet said France had much to learn from Beijing and that the cooperation would bring the countries closer “in the spirit of the Olympics.”

European Broadcasting Union

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is a consortium of media organizations that facilitates cooperation, content sharing, and technical coordination among its members.  Established in 1950, when broadcasters from Western Europe convened in the English seaside resort of Torquay, EBU operates as a professional network enabling public broadcasters to co-produce content, develop technical standards, pool resources internationally, and champion public service broadcasting values. The organization represents more than one hundred public service media organizations worldwide, including well-known broadcasters such as the BBC (United Kingdom), ARD and ZDF (Germany), France Télévision (France), RAI (Italy), and SVT (Sweden). The Union is best known to the general public as the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual music competition that has become a cultural phenomenon across Europe. 

Green Dragon Club

The Green Dragon Club, also known in some news reports as the “Green Dragon Dragon Boat Club,” is a local Chinese community organization based in Prato, Italy, that maintains strong connections with Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, from which a large proportion of the local Chinese population originates. Founded in 2016, the club currently has 65 members who are all Wenzhou Chinese living and working in Prato. The president of the club as of 2023 was Deng Jianyi (鄧建義), a businessman from Wenzhou’s Lucheng District who led a 37-day motorcycle expedition covering 14,000 kilometers through seven Eurasian countries before returning to Wenzhou in July 2023. In February 2025, the club was designated as both an “overseas communication base” and “liaison office” of the Wenzhou International Communication Center (溫州國際傳播中心), a local government media organization established in May 2024 as part of China’s international communication strategy.

Spain-China Friendship Association

The Spain-China Friendship Association (Asociación de Amistad España-China), also known in Spain as Asociación de Amigos de China, was founded in 1987 and is based in Madrid. It presents itself as a nongovernmental organization promoting cooperation between Spain and China. They facilitate exchanges between Chinese and Spanish delegations and organize cultural activities in both countries. On its website, the association says that its Chinese counterpart is the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries or CPAFFC (中國人民對外友好協會), as an “organization integrated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China” that has been its counterpart since its founding, carrying out “intense activities” extending to China’s provinces and municipalities. CPAFFC, established in May 1954, serves as a key conduit for establishing links with foreign individuals and organizations favorable to the CCP leadership’s agendas.” Current president Antonio Miguel Carmona, a macroeconomics professor, has met with Chinese Ambassador to Spain Yao Jing (姚敬) and, in September 2023, was received by the vice governor of Hebei province and the vice president of the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Communist Party of Sweden

The Communist Party of Sweden (Kommunistiska Partiet) is a far-left Marxist-Leninist political party founded in 1970. It emerged from a series of splits within the Swedish communist movement during the late 1960s, when pro-Beijing factions broke away from the mainstream Left Party over ideological disagreements. Headquartered in Gothenburg, the party was officially registered in 1977 and adopted its current name at its 14th Party Congress in January 2005. As of March 2026, it held no seats in the Swedish parliament and did not contest national elections. The party historically has roots in the Maoist movement but has since distanced itself from that orientation. Its official organ is the weekly newspaper Proletären, which it has published since 1970.

FokusKina

FokusKina is a Swedish association that publishes a quarterly journal of the same name — formerly called Kinarapport — covering Chinese history, culture, politics, economics, and society, and describes itself as “the only journal in Sweden focused entirely on China.” In addition to the journal, the association organizes lectures, cultural events, and member trips to China. Founded in 1952 as the Swedish-Chinese Association (Svensk-kinesiska föreningen), the organization was “officially non-political” but in practice acted as “a link to the Embassy of China in Sweden” and “a kind of watchdog over Swedish discourse on things Chinese,” protesting when Swedish media departed from the PRC line, according to a monograph published by the Cambridge University Press.  By the 1960s and 1970s, it had become closely intertwined with the Swedish New Left, sharing many members with the pro-Beijing Maoist party “Kommunistiska Förbundet Marxist-Leninisterna” (KFML) and partially financing its operations through its close ties with the Chinese embassy and the sale of books and other products from China. It renamed itself the Swedish-Chinese Friendship Association (Svensk-kinesiska vänskapsförbundet) in 1971, then reverted to its original name after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre to distance itself from the regime. In the discourse of the Chinese Communist Party, “friendship” carries explicit political expectations — alignment with China’s foreign policy positions and non-interference in its internal affairs — and is routinely cultivated through institutional proxies, including associations and think tanks, that lend the appearance of grassroots exchange to what are in practice state-directed relationships. This group’s function and history — even before its rebranding as FokusKina in 2017 — reflects this pattern closely. Today the association describes itself as “politically, religiously, and economically independent” and is funded primarily by membership fees and grants from the Arts Council. In April 2025, its editor attended a Chinese embassy-hosted event, and the Chinese embassy in Sweden featured on its website a 2022 FokusKina interview with Ambassador Cui Aimin (崔愛民). 

Cátedra China

Cátedra China is a Spain-based organization founded in 2012. The think tank describes its mission using language that closely mirrors CCP narratives, presenting itself as a bridge between “knowledgeable and lovers of current and historical China” from Spanish and Chinese academic, business, media, and institutional circles. It organizes conferences, seminars, and political dialogue events, and publishes the magazine Mundo Global. The think tank has ties to the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), a government body that aims to cultivate foreign networks and relationships. The association has a partnership with the Spain-China People’s Friendship Association (AACHE), an organization established in 2019 at CPAFFC’s encouragement. In 2020, a report from the US State Department characterized CPAFFC as being used to “directly and malignly influence state and local leaders.” In 2024, it inaugurated Fundación Cátedra China, with the aim of strengthening knowledge and relations between Spain, the European Union, and the People’s Republic of China. The organization maintains close ties with the Chinese embassy in Spain. In February 2021, former Chinese Ambassador to Spain Wu Haitao (吳海濤) met with Cátedra China’s executive committee, calling it “necessary and valuable.” In March 2024, the think tank launched the “China Comienza Aquí” (China Begins Here) programme, in collaboration with the PRC embassy in Spain. The program arranges meetings between Chinese diplomats and Spanish university students in what the organization describes as informal, “protocol-free” exchanges. Current Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing (姚敬) has attended multiple Cátedra China events and, in November 2024, jointly presented with Cátedra China on China’s 15th Five-Year Plan – a strategic roadmap for China to follow until 2030.  Marcelo Muñoz is the founder and current honorary president. When interviewed by Chinese state broadcaster CGTN Europe, he said he  “was the first ever Spaniard to open a business in China” in 1978. Muñoz has authored multiple books and writes regularly for Spanish outlets. In interviews with Chinese state media, he echoes Beijing’s narratives, describing China’s transformation as one of humanity’s greatest transformations.