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Entity Type: PRC Media Group

StarTimes Communication Network Technology Co. Ltd.

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StarTimes Communication Network Technology Co. Ltd. (四達時代通訊網絡技術有限公司), formerly registered as Beijing StarTimes Communication Network Technology Co., Ltd. (北京四達時代通訊網絡技術有限公司), is a Beijing-based Chinese technology and engineering company incorporated on January 18, 2000, in Haidian District, Beijing, with a registered and fully paid capital of 132 million RMB. It is the primary contracting entity for StarTimes Group’s (四達時代集團) government engineering, procurement, and construction contracts in Africa, and is the entity named in AidData’s record — sourced to Zambia’s Auditor General — as having signed the 273 million US dollar commercial EPC contract with Zambia’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services on September 18, 2015. It holds the 60 percent controlling stake in TopStar Communications Company Limited and wholly owns Beijing StarTimes Media Co., Ltd. (北京四達時代傳媒有限公司). The company is owned 80 percent by Qinhuangdao Development Zone Sida Electronics Co., Ltd. (秦皇島開發區四達電子有限公司) and 20 percent by Tibet Pan-African Investment Co., Ltd. (西藏泛非投資有限公司) — both ultimately controlled by Chinese businessman Pang Xinxing (龐新星), whom the registry identifies as the beneficial owner of approximately 82.46 percent of the company across both shareholding paths. The Tibet entity was inserted as a 20 percent shareholder on July 10, 2015, replacing a prior Beijing-registered shareholder, just two months before the Zambia EPC contract was signed in September 2015. While AidData renders the company’s English name as “Star Times Communication Network Technology Co. Ltd.” without providing a corresponding Chinese name, the most likely entity in PRC company registry records is 四達時代通訊網絡技術有限公司.

China International Television Corporation

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China International Television Corporation (中國國際電視總公司), or CITVC, founded in 1984, is a state-owned media company funded by China Central Television (CCTV) that handles international sales and distribution of Chinese television content. Following asset reorganization in 1997, the corporation expanded into a diversified media conglomerate with operations spanning program production, distribution, advertising, audience research, and technical services. The company, now under the umbrella of the Central Propaganda Department-administered China Media Group (CMG), markets CCTV’s content internationally and distributes 33 foreign satellite channels from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other countries across China. 

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.

China International Communication Group

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China International Communications Group, also known as China International Publishing Group (中國國際出版集團), is a state-controlled media organization established in 1949 and owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Headquartered in Beijing, it operates as a foreign-language publishing and communications enterprise claiming to “introduce China to foreign countries.” The organization reportedly runs 20 overseas branches in countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, and Mexico, employing approximately 3,000 staff members, including about 100 foreign workers. CICG publishes over 3,000 book titles and around 50 journals annually in more than 10 languages, including notable periodicals like China Today (今日中國) and Beijing Review. As of September 2024, independent media researchers classified the organization as “State Controlled Media,” challenging its claims of editorial independence.

China News Service

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China News Service (中國新聞社), established in October 1952, is China’s second-largest state news agency after Xinhua. The agency has been under the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party since 2018, focusing on overseas Chinese communities and residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The agency maintains offices throughout mainland China and internationally, operating what it calls the “Global Chinese Media Cooperative Union” to redistribute state media content. In 2020, the U.S. State Department designated CNS as a “foreign mission.” According to the Media and Journalism Research Center, as of September 2024, CNS is classified as “State Controlled Media.” The agency expanded into film and television production, launched “China News Video” in 2007, and publishes several periodicals, including “China Newsweek” (中國新聞周刊).

China International Television Corporation

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China International Television Corporation (中國國際電視總公司, CITVC) is a wholly state-owned subsidiary of China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), established in 1984 to handle international content distribution and co-production partnerships. The corporation serves as CMG’s primary commercial arm for global media operations, with over RMB 10 billion in assets and annual revenue. CITVC founded the Silk Road Television Community (絲綢之路電視共同體) in 2016 as an international broadcasting alliance now encompassing 149 media institutions across 64 countries. The company operates content distribution channels in North America through its California-based subsidiary China Television Corporation (中國電視有限公司, CTC) and has been designated a “Key National Cultural Export Enterprise” by Chinese authorities, positioning it as a central platform for Beijing’s international media influence operations and Belt and Road Initiative (一帶一路) propaganda dissemination.

Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group

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Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao Wen Wei Po Media Group (香港大公文汇传媒集团) was established in January 2016, operating Ta Kung Pao (大公报), Hong Kong Wen Wei Po (香港文汇报), and multiple digital platforms as a Hong Kong-based, state-owned Chinese-language media conglomerate. Under the leadership of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the group upholds strong pro-China positions and often serves to attack critics in the territory, including scholars and democracy figures. Ta Kung Pao, founded June 17, 1902, in Tianjin, claims to be “the oldest existing Chinese newspaper.” Wen Wei Po was established in Shanghai in 1938 and resumed publication in Hong Kong on September 9, 1948, positioning itself as a “main channel” for Hong Kong residents to understand central government policies. The group operates news centers across mainland China and correspondent bureaus in multiple countries, describing its mission as “transmitting China’s voice” and supporting “One Country, Two Systems” implementation.

Guilin Beibei Te Electronic Audio-Video Publishing House

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The Guilin Beibei Te Electronic Audio-Video Publishing House (桂林貝貝特電子音像出版社有限責任公司) was established in June 2005 in Guilin, Guangxi, with Lai Zhiwen (賴志文) serving as its legal representative. The company specializes in electronic and audio-visual publishing, including electronic publications, online publishing, and audio-visual production services.  The publishing house is wholly owned by Guangxi Normal University Press Group, a state-owned publisher that has received commendations from the Central Propaganda Department and says it “adheres to the correct political direction” and “effectively puts social benefits in the first place.”