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Entity Type: Domestic Association or Organization

Observatorio de la Política China

Written by Dalia Parete on .

The Observatorio de la Política China (OPCh) is a research group founded in 2004 by Galician sinologist Xulio Ríos under the Instituto Galego de Análise e Documentación Internacional (IGADI), a Spain-based think tank, and with backing from Casa Asia, a public diplomacy consortium backed by the Spanish government that produces analysis on the Asia-Pacific region. The OPCh says its focus is on Chinese legal reform, human rights, cross-Strait unification, and foreign policy. It publishes a quarterly journal, Jiexi Zhongguo (解析中國), or “Analyzing China,” annual reports on both China and Taiwan, and a weekly Taiwan briefing called Taiwan Hebdo.  Notably, the OPCh’s parent institution, IGADI, lists “unification” as one of OPCh’s research areas — a term that also reflects China’s position on Taiwan. In 2024, the group visited Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei, indicating that it seeks to maintain ties with both China and Taiwan. In 2014, OPCh signed a cooperation agreement with the European regional office of Xinhua, the official news agency of the People’s Republic of China. Under the agreement, the two parties pledged to exchange information and analysis, and co-organize seminars. OPCh has also co-run the Minzu Program (Programa Minzu) — an exchange program on governance of ethnic autonomy — with the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中國社會科學院民族學與人類學研究所), a think tank directly under China’s State Council. It is also a member of the Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network (SIRONET), launched in 2017, a China-led group that claims to serve as a platform for civil society engagement related to Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative.  In 2021, it signed a cooperation agreement on the promotion and study of the concept of a “Community with Shared Future” with the Institute for a Community with Shared Future (人類命運共同體研究院) at the Communication University of China in Beijing — a research center built around the concept of a “community of shared future for mankind” (人類命運共同體), a core Xi Jinping foreign policy concept. Ríos himself lived and worked in China between 2006 and 2010. His articles in translation have on several occasions made it into China’s Reference News (參考消息), a Xinhua-published newspaper that selectively translates foreign media articles. Since late 2022, the OPCh has been directed by Mexican scholar Raquel Isamara León de la Rosa.

Japan Business Federation

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The Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, is a powerful corporate membership federation that is one of Japan’s three major economic organizations, formed in May 2002 through the merger of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (established 1946) and the Japan Federation of Employers’ Associations. According to its own description, as of 2025, the federation comprises 574 leading Japanese companies, 106 national industry associations, and regional economic organizations covering all 47 prefectures. The Federation is regarded as Japan’s most powerful business lobby, as it builds consensus among its members on policy issues — from taxation and energy to trade and labor — and channels those positions to the government through formal proposals and political engagement. Its current chairman as of April 2026 is Yoshinobu Tsutsui (筒井義信), former chairman of Nippon Life Insurance Co., who maintains a close relationship with China, regarding it as a vital economic market. In January 2026, Tsutsui stressed the need to “find an opportunity for dialogue at the economic level”  amid tensions over Chinese export restrictions on dual-use items targeting Japan.

Keizei Koho Center

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The Keizai Koho Center (KKC), also known as the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs, was established in 1978 as an affiliate of Keidanren (日本經濟團體連合會), a corporate membership federation that is one of Japan’s three major economic organizations. KKC describes itself as a “platform” for the Japanese business community to engage with domestic and international stakeholders, conducting programs through which some 700 companies and 40 industry associations seek to develop ties with lawmakers, government officials, scholars, journalists, business executives, and educators. KKC also analyzes public policy and the Japanese economy, publishes expert commentary and organizes meetings with foreign media to facilitate exchanges between journalists and its member corporations.

Chinese Journalists Association of Taiwan

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.