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Entity Type: Domestic Chinese-Language Media

Sing Tao News Corporation Limited

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Sing Tao News Corporation Limited (星島新聞集團有限公司), also known as the Sing Tao Group (星島新聞集團), is a Hong Kong media company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange whose flagship title, Sing Tao Daily, was first published in 1938. The present holding company traces to 1996, when it was incorporated as Perfect Treasure Holdings before being acquired and renamed by businessman Charles Ho Tsu-kwok, who chaired the group from 2001 to 2021 and was, according to the South China Morning Post, a standing committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a national political advisory body under the Chinese Communist Party. In 2021, Ho sold a controlling stake to Kwok Hiu-ting, an executive of Mainland Chinese property developer Kaisa Group, and her father Kwok Ying-shing, Kaisa’s chairman, became Sing Tao’s chairman. The group’s titles include Sing Tao Daily, the English-language Standard, and free daily Headline Daily, and it has supported National Security Department-run youth competitions including NStudio and NStory.

GBTimes Oy

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GBTimes Oy (環球時代傳媒有限公司) is a Tampere-based Finnish media company producing China-related radio, print, and online content for European audiences. According to its own About Us page, the outlet was founded as Radio86 in 2004 and has “gradually worked to become the web’s most extensive China-related information base,” publishing news, travel, politics, food, history, and entertainment content in 11 languages, including English, Finnish, Swedish, and Chinese. GBTimes was formally registered as a Finnish company in 2007. In 2015, independent researcher Jichang Lulu told Reuters in 2015 that the network’s aim was “selling China’s story to the world” while “portray[ing] the content as coming from an independent party.” GBTiimes Oy CEO Zhao Yinong (趙亦農) told Reuters that CRI paid his firm “several million euros” annually, more than half its revenue, to produce local-language programming. When Reuters asked why CRI was working through private companies abroad, he defended the practice, saying there was no “no difference” between his operation and the US government-funded Voice of America (VOA). According to a separate Reuters report, a 60 percent stake in the Finnish company was held by a subsidiary of state broadcaster China Radio International (中國國際廣播電台). GBTimes Oy was part of a broader global network of 33 CRI-linked radio stations across 14 countries, “from Finland to Nepal to Australia, and from Philadelphia to San Francisco,” including a counterpart in Australia run by Melbourne-based media proprietor Tommy Jiang (姜兆慶) through Global CAMG Media. Four Corners, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation program, reported that CAMG’s radio stations functioned as an overseas outlet for Chinese state messaging and that Jiang was a major donor to Australia’s two main political parties.  

China Weekly

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China Weekly (中國週報) is a bilingual Chinese-Arabic newspaper established in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneur Ma Qiang (馬強) in Egypt. The publication covers Chinese economics, politics, and culture for both Chinese and Egyptian audiences, maintaining cooperation with China News Service (中新社) since its inception. The paper regularly reposts content from CNS, which is operated by the United Front Work Department of the CCP. The newspaper and its publisher openly position themselves as serving to “tell China’s story well in both Chinese and Arabic languages” (用中阿雙語講好中國故事), a framing characteristic of Chinese state-linked overseas media, following Xi Jinping’s 2013 media speech on external propaganda. Ma Qiang has described his mission as presenting China’s image to the world from his position bridging Chinese and Egyptian communities. The newspaper represents part of China’s expanding media presence in the Middle East, particularly as part of the broader Belt and Road Initiative engagement with Arab nations.

Nordic Chinese TIMES

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Nordic Chinese Times was launched in 2009 by He Ru (何儒), a native of Guangxi who arrived in Sweden in 2006 and is now president of the Copenhagen-based Nordic-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (北欧中国商会). He Ru told China’s official state broadcaster CCTV in 2019 that after arriving in Sweden, he realized that “it was hard to find news about China in the local media, and if there was news, it was largely negative.” He launched the Nordic Chinese Times the next year, urging his colleagues, according to the CCTV report, to “stick to the principle of impartiality.” While there is no evidence that the outlet is operated or influenced directly by PRC entities, it has established official content cooperation with the CCP’s People’s Daily, and content from official state media, including Xinhua News Agency, is prevalent.

Asia News Time

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Asia News Time is a Chinese-language daily newspaper founded on August 28, 1993, in Bangkok. At the time of its founding it was Thailand’s sixth Chinese-language daily. It is distributed across Southeast Asia and globally. The paper serves Thailand’s ethnic Chinese community. According to its Baidu profile — whose original source links are broken — the paper has also served as an in-flight publication for Bangkok Airways. The paper describes itself as having been established by “patriotic overseas Chinese investors” — language that suggests the potential for political alignment with China that could impact editorial independence. The paper’s ties with China are well-documented. Since August 2006 it has co-distributed the People’s Daily Overseas Edition (人民日報海外版) in Thailand, with a formal launch ceremony attended by then-caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In 2008 it served as a designated cooperation partner for that edition’s Olympic coverage. The paper has also served as a direct publication platform for official PRC diplomatic messaging. In June 2025, China’s ambassador to Thailand, Han Zhiqiang (韓志強), published an open letter to overseas Chinese through its pages. 

Australia Asia Business Weekly

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Australia Asia Business Weekly (澳洲環球商報) was established on August 1, 2008, as Perth’s bilingual Chinese-English weekly newspaper serving the local Asian community. The publication covers Australian news, community news, information on immigration and education, and classified advertisements serving the diaspora population. The paper says on its online “About Us” page that it cooperates with Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po (文匯報), publishing two full pages each week of content directly from the pro-Beijing state newspaper. It also claims official backing from China’s Guangdong Province Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee (中國廣東省海外華人委員會), suggesting a possible formal connection with the Chinese government and its “united front” overseas outreach structure. In 2017, Australia Asia Business Weekly partnered with Chinese digital platform Huaren Toutiao (華人頭條) to create a local news app for Perth’s Chinese community called “Huaren Toutiao Perth Station” (華人頭條珀斯站), allowing the newspaper to reach younger audiences in Australia.

Thailand Headlines

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Thailand Headlines (泰國頭條新聞) is a Chinese-language online news portal covering Thailand, established in August 2013 when it published its first news item on Sina Weibo. It is operated by the Thai Jiaranai Group (泰國亞洲大衆集團（大衆）有限公司), based in Bangkok, and led by publisher Guo Rui (郭蕊). In May 2023, Guo was arrested by Thai police on allegations of using her connections with a senior police official to demand 14 million baht from a Chinese suspect in exchange for dropping charges. She was released on bail. The outlet covers Thai politics, society, economy, entertainment, and overseas Chinese affairs across nearly 20 platforms including Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Toutiao, Facebook, and YouTube, and, according to its own About page, claims a total readership exceeding seven billion views and a daily readership of over three million — figures that are difficult to verify independently and typical of self-promotional overseas Chinese media profiles. The outlet also cites a 2021 ranking by China News Service (中國新聞社), placing it second globally and first in Thailand among overseas Chinese new media — though China News Service itself operates under the CCP’s United Front Work Department, raising questions about the independence of such assessments. The outlet states explicitly in its own materials that it shoulders the responsibility of “transmitting China’s voice and telling China’s story well” — standard CCP external propaganda framing. It operates Thailand’s first Chinese-language online news broadcast programme. Its parent company also organizes the annual “Thai Oscars” ceremony, known in Chinese as the Thailand Headlines Person of the Year Awards (泰國頭條新聞年度風雲人物頒獎典禮), which has drawn official PRC diplomatic representation: the 2018 ceremony was attended by China’s consul-general to Thailand, who presented awards alongside Thai government ministers.

Kansai Chinese Times

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The Kansai Chinese Times (關西華文時報) is a Chinese-language newspaper serving overseas Chinese communities in Japan, founded in August 2002 by Osaka-based Acacia Communications Co. Ltd (阿卡西亞通訊有限公司), or Akashia Komyunikēshonzu. Initially targeting the ethnic Chinese population in the Kansai region, the publication expanded its distribution nationwide and launched a website in 2017. Published in both Chinese and Japanese, the Kansai Chinese Times covers news and information about the local Chinese community, employment and educational opportunities, and Japan-China exchanges — as well as sections on Kansai news, services and lifestyle. The newspaper positions itself as serving as a “bridge” between China and Japan, framing characteristic of Chinese state-linked overseas media. The bridging theme is reinforced through several ongoing columns, including “Bridging Japan and China” (日中を翔る), a series of interviews with individuals who work between the two countries. According to the site’s “About Us” profile, it was recognized in 2018 as “one of the Top 100 Most Influential Chinese Media Worldwide” by the official China News Service (中國新聞社), an outlet under the United Front Work Department of the CCP, and Communication University of China (中國傳媒大學). The public activities of the outlet routinely have participation from Chinese diplomats in Osaka.

Home Voice Chinese Weekly

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Home Voice Chinese Weekly (乡音) claims to be New Zealand’s only Chinese-language newspaper serving Wellington and the southern North Island, founded in October 1998 by editor-publisher Kevin Zeng (曾凯文). Published weekly on Fridays with over 100 free distribution points across multiple cities including Palmerston North, New Plymouth, and Rotorua, the paper claims more than 16,000 readers weekly across print and digital platforms. Home Voice operates multimedia platforms including a website launched in 2004, online radio since 2013, and social media accounts on Facebook, X and WeChat. The publication maintains “long-term stable cooperative relationships” (长期稳定过的合作关系) with China’s Xinhua News Agency and China News Service, while stating its mission is serving overseas Chinese communities and “promoting New Zealand-China friendship.” The Home Voice Chinese Weekly site includes banner ads for several Chinese diplomatic missions in the region. The channel runs almost exclusively Chinese state media content on its social media channels.