Winds From the East: How the People's Republic of China Seeks to Influence the Media in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia A Report to the Center for International Media Assistance By Douglas Farah and Andy Mosher September 8, 2010 The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), a project of the National Endowment for Democracy, aims to strengthen the support, raise the visibility, and improve the effectiveness of media assistance programs by providing information, building networks, conducting research, and highlighting the indispensable role independent media play in the creation and development of sustainable democracies around the world. An important aspect of CIMA's work is to research ways to attract additional U.S. private sector interest in and support for international media development. CIMA convenes working groups, discussions, and panels on a variety of topics in the field of media development and assistance. The center also issues reports and recommendations based on working group discussions and other investigations. These reports aim to provide policymakers, as well as donors and practitioners, with ideas for bolstering the effectiveness of media assistance. Marguerite H. Sullivan Senior Director Center for International Media Assistance National Endowment for Democracy 1025 F Street, N.W., 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20004 Phone: (202) 378-9700 Fax: (202) 378-9407 Email: CIMA@ned.org URL: http://cima.ned.org About the Authors Douglas Farah Doug Farah is the president of IBI Consultants and a Senior Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, based in Alexandria, VA. He is a national security consultant and analyst. In 2004 he worked for nine months with the Consortium for the Study of Intelligence, studying armed groups and intelligence reform. For the two decades before that, he was a foreign correspondent and investigative reporter for the Washington Post, covering Latin America and West Africa. He has also written for the Boston Globe, US News & World Report, and other publications. Farah was awarded the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Foreign Correspondence (1988) for a Washington Post series on right-wing death squads in El Salvador and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize (1995) by Columbia University for outstanding coverage of Latin America. He holds a B.A in Latin American Studies and a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Kansas and is the author of two books-Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror (2004) and Merchant of Death: Viktor Bout and the New World Order (2007). Andy Mosher CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Farah covered the drug war in South America for the Post in the 1990s, working in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. He also covered the emergence of Russian organized crime groups in Latin America and the Caribbean and the growth of Mexican drug cartels in the United States. In 2000 Farah was named the newspaper's West Africa bureau chief, based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He wrote extensively about the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Andy Mosher is a media consultant who has worked closely with the Center for International Media Assistance and with the International Research & Exchanges Board. He spent 28 years in the newspaper business, most recently with the Washington Post, where between 1990 and 2008 he was deputy foreign editor, foreign copy chief, and national business editor. In 2000, Mosher trained journalists in Zambia as a Knight International Journalism Fellow. A native of California, he attended the University of San Francisco. He is the author of a 2009 CIMA report, Good but How Good? Monitoring and Evaluation of Media Assistance Projects. Center for International Media Assistance 1 Table of Contents Preface 3 Executive Summary 4 Global Overview 6 China and Africa 12 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation 13 Zambia 14 Liberia 17 Zimbabwe 18 China In Latin America 20 Ties to the Bolivarian States 20 Ties to the Media 21 Hosting Media Delegations 22 The Growing Role of the Confucius Institutions 23 China and Southeast Asia Conclusion 26 Endnotes 2 24 27 Center for International Media Assistance Preface The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy commissioned this study of China's media assistance in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. It approaches the topic from the standpoint of developments on the ground in those regions and is intended for an audience interested primarily in media assistance rather than for experienced China watchers. CIMA is grateful to Douglas Farah, a veteran foreign correspondent in Africa and Latin America, and Andy Mosher, a long-time newspaper editor and consultant for CIMA, for their research and insights on this topic. Marguerite H. Sullivan Senior Director Center for International Media Assistance Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East We hope that this report will become an important reference for international media assistance efforts. 3 Executive Summary CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East The People's Republic of China (PRC) is using various components of public diplomacy to influence the media in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. China's primary purposes appear to be to present China as a reliable friend and partner, as well as to make sure that China's image in the developing world is positive. As part of its efforts to do this, the Chinese government seeks to fundamentally reshape much of the world's media in its own image, away from a watchdog stance toward the government to one where the government's interests are the paramount concern in deciding what to disseminate. The Chinese efforts often result in helping authoritarian governments expand control of their local media. A great deal of emphasis is placed on forming alliances that are anti-Western and on promoting an anti-Western media model to combat what the Chinese regularly portray as part of an imperialist plan to distort the truth. A secondary but important purpose in China's new emphasis on media outreach is to demonstrate the benefits of a relationship with the PRC to those nations that still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The diplomatic isolation of Taiwan remains a high priority for the PRC, and the bulk of the countries that recognize Taiwan are in Latin America and Africa. The PRC's efforts are also clearly aimed at expanding Chinese influence in regions where the PRC is greatly stepping up its economic and political presence and military sales. As part of its expansion into significant commodity acquisitions (oil, 4 Center for International Media Assistance copper, bauxite, tin, and many others) in Africa and Latin America and its search for business acumen, technology, and markets in Southeast Asia, China has made media aid and the expansion of Chinese media influence a high priority. This comes as Western news outlets have cut their overseas staffs and fewer U.S. and European government resources are allocated for training and other media support in subSaharan Africa and Latin America. China is carrying out these efforts through: zz Direct Chinese government aid to state-run media in the form of radio transmitters and financing for national satellites. zz The provision of content and technologies to allies and potential allies that are often cash strapped. zz Memorandums of understanding on the sharing of news, particularly across Southeast Asia. zz Training programs and expense-paid trips to China for journalists. zz A significant, possibly multi-billion dollar expansion of the PRC's own media on the world stage, primarily through the Xinhua news agency, satellite and Internet TV channels controlled by Xinhua, and state-run television services. The overall results of these media efforts by China are hard to determine. By successfully hosting major media conferences, including those co-sponsored by Western media giants, China's media have clearly shown themselves to be a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Chinese-manufactured satellite has yet to be launched. China does appear to have significantly beefed up its own media presence in the region and is also a leading content provider for many news outlets. Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East In Southeast Asia, the PRC seems to have been particularly successful in reaching agreements to provide Chinese government In Africa, where China has made significant content for numerous regional outlets and media infrastructure investments, primarily has a significant footprint in the emerging in radio transmitters, there also have digital TV and Internet-based TV markets. been agreements on content sharing and By signing memorandums of understanding a targeted emphasis on providing Africawith the Association of Southeast Asian relevant content to resource-starved Nations as well as individual members media outlets. Given China's multi-billion of the alliance, dollar investments China has made in commodity significant advances extraction and large The Chinese government seeks scale infrastructure in integrating its view of the world into projects in Africa, to fundamentally reshape nightly broadcasts and it is reasonable to much of the world's media in morning newspapers assume that much of its own image, away from a throughout the region. the effort is aimed at keeping local public watchdog stance toward the In Latin America, the opinion on the side government to one where the Chinese assistance of the Chinese. government's interests are is closely but not exclusively aligned Chinese news media, the paramount concern in with the left-leaning far less independent deciding what to disseminate. populist states than Western news of the Bolivarian organizations, form alliance (Venezuela, the basis for China's Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua), led media assistance, which emphasizes by Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?vez. cooperation with governments-many Venezuela purchased a communications of them undemocratic-and rejects the satellite from China, in part to be able Western media's role as watchdogs holding to project the government's message governments accountable. Western more broadly, although the satellite does media development implementers and not appear to be functioning. Bolivia's those who fund them should take note. 5 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Global Overview The People's Republic China (PRC) is rapidly expanding its commercial, diplomatic, and military ties across the globe. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia there is a key, though little noted, element embedded in this multi-faceted strategy of projecting global influence and extracting natural resources to meet China's economic needs: a well-resourced effort to strengthen ties to the regions' media and influence how and what they report. This is a goal that is explicit in official policy statements. While Southeast Asia has long been a region of Chinese influence, only in the past decade has the PRC begun significant efforts to woo public opinion in Latin America and Africa. The Chinese efforts often result in helping authoritarian governments expand control of their local media, while working to undermine the Western model of an independent, adversarial media. This raises troubling questions for Western media assistance implementers and those who fund their activities. The goals of the media policy appear to be two-fold. The first and most important is to ensure that China's growing presence in these regions is viewed positively, and significant emphasis is placed on generating media attention to the multiple programs that accompany the commercial expansion. As John Pomfret of the Washington Post noted of the PRC's efforts to influence the media and provide media content on a global level: Behind the push is a Communist Party hierarchy that has seized upon the idea of "soft power" as 6 Center for International Media Assistance China's new Holy Grail in its search for superpower status. President Hu Jintao has publicly stressed the strategy. And in 2008, Li Changchun, the party leader responsible for propaganda, summed up China's rationale: "In the modern age, whichever nation's communication methods are most advanced, whichever nation's communication capacity is strongest . . . has the most power to influence the world."1 Pomfret, who has covered China for more than a decade, elaborated in an interview, saying "The Chinese want to change the way people think about them. They have a belief they don't get a fair shake in the Western media, and they want to get out the message of how well China is doing. But it is also a business proposition. They want to create international media conglomerates to compete with Thomson-Reuters, the BBC, and AP."2 A second important element of the media strategy appears to be aimed at swaying the countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), to switch their formal recognition to the PRC. More than half of the nations in the world that still recognize Taiwan (12 of 23) are in Latin America, and four are in sub-Saharan Africa. A collateral effect is to strengthen the grip of authoritarian governments on state control of the media in their respective countries, as will be examined in the cases of Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Bolivia. While strengthening the official media may not be the West is a familiar one. From modest beginnings in the 1960s, with an initial focus on Latin America, assistance to media in developing countries and emerging democracies blossomed with the disintegration of the Soviet Bloc after 1989. Superpower attempts to influence the media existed throughout the Cold War, but China's efforts in the field are relatively new in form and content. Western democracies and Japan spent millions of dollars training journalists in the formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe and helping independent, non-governmental media outlets take root. As the media assistance sector grew, it broadened its scope, reaching out to countries on every continent. In addition to the clear intent to have a strong say in the international media's portrayal of the world, particularly of China, the PRC leadership is promoting a newsThroughout, the gathering paradigm United States led "In the modern age, whichever that stands in stark the way. In 2008, nation's communication methods U.S. funding of contrast to the West's traditional media assistance are most advanced, whichever view of the media nation's communication capacity was estimated as a watchdog of at $124 million, is strongest . . . has the most the government and nearly as much intense competitors as the combined power to influence the world." among themselves. contributions of the -- Li Changchun, Propaganda second- and third Chief for the Communist Party of China In a speech opening ranked funders-- the 2009 World the European Media Summit Commission, in Beijing, Chinese President Hu urged with $81 million, and Japan, with $45 the global media to "maintain a balance million.5 Likewise, the United States and between competition and cooperation, its democratic allies set the agenda. The and in the process strive to be mutually principles of free, independent media complementary, helpful and beneficial," formed the basis for assistance efforts. The and added that "the media of the world countries providing assistance to foreign can enhance exchanges and cooperation media modeled their efforts to reflect the to seek common development to promote way media operated in their own countries, 4 world peace and development." often tailored to the needs and realities of the targeted society but attempting To media development practitioners, and to hew to liberal democratic norms. to the thousands of journalists around the world who have been touched by their But as with other types of development efforts, the story of media assistance by assistance, media development is also Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East the officially enunciated policy, in media seminars PRC officials have repeatedly attacked the Western media as biased, unreliable, and full of propaganda and have urged "aggrieved" nations to form a unified media counterforce led by China.3 7 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East conducted by countries outside the so-called club of democracies. China--with the world's largest population and its secondlargest economy--has emerged as a major contributor to developing countries, particularly through loans. It is almost impossible to do an "apples to apples" comparison of China's aid programs and Western programs, however, because there are no consistent metrics used to measure the PRC's expenditures. As the Congressional Research Service noted: 8 The same study found that "PRC foreign assistance and government-supported economic projects in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia grew from less than $1 billion in 2002 to $27.5 billion in 2006 and $25 billion in 2007. Aid and related investment to Africa showed the most significant increase."7 American University professor Deborah Brautigam estimates that Chinese aid for Africa is about $3 billion a year when categories such as debt relief and face China's foreign aid is difficult to value of loans are included (as the OECD quantify. The PRC government does in calculating Western countries' does not release or aid figures, but the explain Chinese Chinese government foreign aid statistics, does not).8 Foreign and much of PRC aid equaling $3 billion While China is best known foreign aid does dollars would put for helping developing not appear to be China roughly on par countries with huge accounted for in the with Norway, though scholarly literature markedly below the infrastructure projects, it on foreign aid. world-leading U.S. is estimated to rank 10th Some Chinese figure of $19.8 billion.9 among contributors to direct The Congressional foreign assistance partially resembles Research Service media assistance, providing official development report estimates roughly $18 million in 2008. assistance (ODA) the PRC's aid at as defined by between $1.4 billion the Organization and $2.7 billion a for Economic Co-operation and year, with concessional loans to Africa Development (OECD), but in other having a "total outstanding balance aspects shares characteristics of of approximately $8-9 billion."10 foreign investment. In terms of development grants, the primary And while China is best known for form of assistance provided by helping developing countries with huge major OECD countries, China is a infrastructure projects such as dams, relatively small source of global aid. railways, oil fields, and stadiums, it is However, when China's concessional estimated to rank 10th among contributors loans and state-sponsored or to direct media assistance, providing subsidized overseas investments roughly $18 million in 2008.11 However, are included, the PRC becomes that figure does not take into account the a major source of foreign aid.6 hundreds of millions of dollars (more than Center for International Media Assistance $6 billion by some estimates) that China is spending on enhancing the global reach of its state-run media enterprises, focused on the Xinhua news agency, CCTV, and the People's Daily newspaper.12 This effort, discussed in more detail below, seems primarily geared to providing content to all forms of media around the globe as well as giving the PRC several potent platforms for overcoming what that government frequently calls a Western bias in the global news gathering. Chinese official media assistance projects have, in fact, often involved infrastructure, notably the refurbishing of government broadcasting systems in Liberia and Zambia and financing and building satellites that carry state news programming in Venezuela. Broader initiatives have included training of large numbers of foreign journalists in Beijing and providing print content and broadcast programming from Chinese news agencies in multiple languages on almost every continent. There is no question that the content has evolved rapidly, and potential clients and partners are receiving a much more sophisticated product than a few years ago. Pomfret points out the growing sophistication of the PRC's media abroad, including greatly enhanced language skills by correspondents and a more subtle approach to spreading the PRC's vision of itself. "It is no longer tales from the ball bearings factory and that type of propaganda," Pomfret said in the interview. "It is more nuanced Among the most prominent of the new Chinese media is the recent creation of CNC World, a 24-hour English language news channel launched in July 2010 by the Xinhua news service. It is intended to be an alternative to the global reach of the BBC, CNN, and Fox. "An international vision with a China perspective" is how Li Congjun, Xinhua's president, described the project. Using the channel to influence Africa's emerging markets is of particular interest in launching the effort.14 Given the limited resources of local media outlets in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, China has made particularly effective use of expensepaid invitations to international media conferences in China. At these, the Chinese leadership has consistently pushed the theme that the Western media is biased and deliberately slanders developing nations. The solution proposed is the creation of a global media alliance against the West, including CNC World, to present a more positive image of the developing world. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East If China's leadership truly believes, as publicly stated, that "whichever nation's communication methods are most advanced, whichever nation's communication capacity is strongest . . . has the most power to influence the world," then such large scale investments have some rationale. than that. They are now using local [nonChinese] anchors in some places for the first time ever, and Xinhua is also hiring locals for the first time. About 200 people a year receive language training. They are much better than they used to be."13 As reported by a Nigerian newspaper, 94 journalists from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe at a 2009 media conference hosted by Guizhou Television, decided that: [Western media] propaganda is a serious concern and concluded that the best way to stop [the] media offensive of the west was for the Center for International Media Assistance 9 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East aggrieved nations to network in the area of collaboration to establish a global multimedia agency capable of matching the established nations. Participants said the media should always be used to tell the truth but instead of presenting facts to the people, western media take advantage of their network to blackmail the developing countries.15 At the same conference, Guizou Television President Pai Fang told the seminar that his station was already forming a "global network to deliver China to the world in a better way than is being done against it," in part by launching satellite channels to "send signals to all parts of the world."16 This may explain in part the generous terms the Chinese offered both Venezuela and Bolivia to launch communications satellites that also carry Chinese programming in English and Spanish. Another key component of the strategy of creating a global network is the expanding Xinhua news agency, which operates CNC World and other TV ventures as well as its wire services. One Chinese newspaper reported that an the astonishing figure of $6.6 billion (45 billion yuan ) "is believed to have been budgeted for expanding the state (PRC) media with Xinhua set to get the lion's share."17 Xinhua scored a coup by co-hosting in Beijing a World Media Summit in 2009, along with such heavyweights as the News Corporation, AP, Reuters, Itar-Tass, Kyodo News, BBC, Turner Broadcasting System, and Google. With that move, Xinhua firmly established itself as a major player in the traditional mainstream media arena. A total of 135 news organizations from 70 10 Center for International Media Assistance countries participated in the conference, the theme of which was "Cooperation, Action, Win-Win and Development."18 According to Xinhua's Li, the news service maintains 117 bureaus outside China and provides news, financial information, photographs, audio, video, and mobile phone text services in eight languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, and Japanese. Li said his agency "vigorously" promotes exchanges and cooperation and has reached agreements with media organizations from more than 100 countries and regions on news, personnel exchanges, and technical cooperation.19 Xinhua has plans to expand to more than 200 bureaus world wide, which would make it the largest news agency in the world. China's willingness to provide financing for the increasingly sophisticated and broadening reach of the PRC's media and influence is unusual in today's global context. Most countries are cutting back on this type of activity due to financial constraints and other national priorities, while the PRC is devoting billions of dollars across the world to them. In particular, the United States, which traditionally has dominated the field, has curtailed its own public diplomacy programs in Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere in the world. Given the resource commitment they are willing to make and the dearth of competitors, the Chinese are likely to make significant gains. One of the reasons for expansion is that Xinhua, as a state-financed agency, does not need to worry about the economic viability of the expansion or about revenue streams.20 While it was not possible to determine the different components of the agreements cited by Li, several Latin American journalists said Xinhua is making a concerted effort to sell its services in the region, often virtually giving away its services to entice potential subscribers.21 Accordingly, there is concern that the Chinese are exporting a form of journalism that resembles their own, far less free and independent than media in democracies. China's government If the Chinese government also looks upon media assistance the same is propagating a less-thanway it does other free model of journalism, or is forms of assistance: propping up friendly regimes as an instrument of foreign policy, by supporting media that intended to further buttress them, do advocates the aims of both of free media and democratic donor and recipient. They have come during a period when China's global profile has risen dramatically, raising the question of whether China intends to become as prominent a player in media assistance as it has become in other sectors such as mining, government need to find a telecommunications, Both perspectives way to counter such moves? and construction. pose troubling And while another questions for those country eager to assist in the established media around the world would normally be media assistance sector. If the Chinese welcomed by those already involved in such government is propagating a less-thanefforts, China is not just another country, free model of journalism, or is propping particularly when it comes to media. up friendly regimes by supporting media that buttress them, do advocates of free The economic changes that enabled media and democratic government need China's economy to boom over the past to find a way to counter such moves? 30 years have not been accompanied by similar political reforms. The country's It is clear China is working to influence secretive Communist government has the media on several continents in made only halting moves toward limited significant ways, and a closer look at transparency and maintains ultimate what has been done may offer some control over all news media in the country, insight into what lies ahead. Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East The Chinese overtures to African and Latin American media are comparatively recent, mostly within the past decade, but extend to traditional spheres of influence in Southeast Asia as well through rapidly increasing content sharing agreements and other methods. as well as access to the Internet. Though the number and quality of news outlets in China has increased sharply in recent years, even Wang Shuo, a journalist renowned in China and abroad for his investigative work, lamented during a recent visit to Washington: "If independence means that media has no relationship with government, there is no independent media in China. End of story."22 11 China and Africa CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Though the People's Republic of China came into being only in the middle of the last century, it has been assisting developing nations for almost its entire history--even though it, too, is still considered a developing nation. 12 covertly providing money, supplies, and advisors to several African independence movements in the 1950s, China launched its first official African aid program in Guinea in 1960, lending the government of S?kou Tour? the equivalent of about $25 million to build a cigarette and match factory.24 American University's Brautigam writes in her recent book, The Dragon's Gift: The China supplied advisors to oversee Real Story of China in Africa, that only a construction of the Guinean factory, but year after the Chinese Communists came donor and recipient maintained a distant to power in 1949, as the Korean War broke relationship. William Attwood, the U.S. out, they were sending ambassador to Guinea grain, cotton, and at the time, wrote industrial materials to that "the Chinese Though the People's Republic North Korea. In 1954, pretty much kept to of China came into being Premier Zhou Enlai themselves and their proclaimed China's Guinean contacts only in the middle of the last "Five Principles of ... They never century, it has been assisting Peaceful Coexistence," ventured out of their developing nations for almost one of which-- compound except "equality and mutual its entire history--even though in pairs and shied benefit"--became the away from casual it, too, is still considered bedrock of an evercontacts. Africans a developing nation. growing aid program. were generally ill at ease with them."25 "At the start of the 1980s, China qualified as one of the Half a century and nearly $6 billion later, world's twenty least developed countries," China has given aid to every country Brautigam writes. "The country's annual in Africa except Swaziland--the only per capita income of $208 placed it squarely country on the continent that has always between Mozambique and Burma ... It was recognized Taiwan rather than the PRC.26 highly unusual for a relatively poor country to even have an aid program."23 (China still Currently, four of sub-Saharan Africa's receives assistance from the World Bank 48 countries maintain official relations for transportation, health, environmental, with Taiwan: Burkina Faso, Sao Tome and and rural development projects.) Principe, Gambia, and Swaziland. Indicating the importance the PRC places on the issue When Africans began in earnest their of diplomatic recognition, in 2007 China struggle to break free from colonial rule, offered Malawi aid and investment worth China was there to lend a hand. After $6 billion, in every significant economic Center for International Media Assistance sector. In January 2008 Malawi switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing.27 Compared with big-ticket, headlinegrabbing projects such as these, China's media assistance efforts have so far been modest--and not well documented. It appears that before 2000, China did little to directly assist African media other than to provide support for guerrilla movements' clandestine radio stations and content for print and broadcast outlets.31 "Chinese assistance to African media is not new. What is different now is that it is being administered in the post-Cold War era with a greater degree of openness," said Fackson Banda, then SAB Ltd.-UNESCO chair of media and democracy at the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies in Grahamstown, South Africa, and now a program specialist with UNESCO's communications development division.32 The Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is a Chinese government initiative designed to serve as a platform for coordinating Chinese foreign policy toward Africa.33 The Chinese government launched FOCAC in October 2000 by bringing ministers from 44 African countries together with 80 top Chinese officials in Beijing. Two more ministerial conferences and a summit in 2006 spawned plans in a broad range of areas, including media. The initial blueprint for cooperation was the Beijing Action Plan, which arose from the 2006 Beijing summit and outlined key milestones to be achieved between 2007 and 2009. The action plan spelled out dozens of undertakings aimed at increasing cooperation in politics, economics, international affairs, and social development. One of the nine subsections comprising the last category was news media, an area in which the action plan laid out five targets: CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East The aid has had a lasting impact. A Chinese-built railway connects landlocked Zambia with the Indian Ocean. Chinese telecommunications powerhouse Huawei Technologies Co. had signed contracts worth $2 billion in sub-Saharan and North Africa combined as of 2006, and its products were being used in 40 African countries.28 China and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have agreed to a deal in which China will lend the Congolese $6 billion to pay the Chinese company Sinohydro to build dams, hospitals, roads, universities, and housing in the sprawling central African country.29 And a host of Chinese companies or joint ventures are pumping oil in Angola, Nigeria, Sudan, and other African countries as the continent exports one million barrels of oil to China every day.30 But there are clear indications that the role with the media is expanding and is a priority in China-Africa relations, as shown by various initiatives launched in recent years. zz encouraging media on both sides to "play a positive role in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship"; zz enabling visits and exchanges between journalists and authorities; zz supporting and encouraging each side to increase coverage of the other by "sending resident and non-resident correspondents for news reporting"; Center for International Media Assistance 13 zz conducting workshops in China for African correspondents and inviting "heads of press authorities and media groups as well as correspondents from Africa to China to exchange views, cover news and explore ways of conducting effective cooperation"; CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East zz expanding cooperation in broadcasting, with a focus on China helping African countries train radio and TV journalists.34 14 Another summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, in 2009 yielded a new action plan for 20102012. This plan narrowed the focus of media initiatives to three points: strengthening exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and African government officials who deal with media, including an annual workshop for African officials; promoting mutual visits between Chinese and African media officials, editors, and other journalists, and the posting of correspondents from each side to the other "to step up objective and fair coverage of Africa and China;" and increasing cooperation in radio and TV program production.35 According to Banda, the exchanges and workshops held under the FOCAC action plans "have included African journalists and other media workers, mostly those in the employ of state-owned media, although there is evidence of editors from privatelyowned media participating (according to the Chinese Embassy in South Africa). As Cheng Min, Johannesburg bureau chief for Xinhua, informed Journalism. co.za: 'We invite journalists from African countries to China and train them on journalism, news gathering and writing.'"36 One of the most significant initiatives was the Xinhua News Agency's launch in 2008 of the China African News Service, whose stated Center for International Media Assistance purpose is to expand coverage of Chinese and African news of mutual interest to Chinese and African audiences. The announcement stated that the service "focuses on expanding and improving coverage of African regional news, major international news, world news and China news related to Africa, and China's domestic news of African interest."37 Banda asserts, however, that "'training' is not value-neutral; it also carries with it the cultural and political values associated with those skills." He noted that a workshop held in 2006 and attended by 42 journalists from 23 English-speaking African countries covered such subjects as China's experience and achievements on economic reform and national development, the Taiwan question, and China's journalistic view and the operation of Chinese media.38 Zambia China has been aiding Zambia since before there was a Zambia.39 When Britain still ruled the central African colony then known as Northern Rhodesia, China supported the liberation movement that won independence in 1964. As the new nation's reliance on its abundant supply of copper drove its economy from boom to bust, and the government of Kenneth Kaunda gradually slid into debt--and one-man rule--China remained supportive. In 1967, China, Zambia, and Tanzania agreed to a project that still stands as China's biggest infrastructure project in Africa to date:40 the railway that links Zambia's Copperbelt with Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam. Built between 1970 and 1975, and finished two years ahead of schedule,41 it still carries passengers and cargo along its 1,100-mile route. Today, ties between Zambia--a multi-party democracy for the past two decades--and China are arguably stronger than ever, and Chinese assistance continues apace. In February 2010, for example, Zambian President Rupiah Banda visited Beijing, where he and several of his cabinet ministers signed "bilateral agreements focusing mainly on economic cooperation between the two countries ... Among the main agreements signed are on economic and technical cooperation for the construction of the National Stadium in Lusaka for a period beginning March 2010 to February 2015."42 The following month, former finance minister Ng'andu Magande said that 80 percent of government road and school construction projects had been given to Chinese companies.43 Zambian media have been getting help from China since 1973, according to former information minister Vernon Mwaanga. 44 It was not until 2002, There are many examples of Chinese government assistance to African media,1 but details about the projects are relatively scarce. They include: ? Mauritius, 2006 - Chinese assistance went toward construction of a building for MBC, the state broadcaster. ? Kenya, 2005-A facility was established for China Radio International FM 91.1, which in February 2006 began broadcasting in English, Swahili and Chinese to Nairobi residents for 19 hours a day. Programs covered China's economic, social and cultural development and played music from China and Africa.2 Kenya also hosts other foreign broadcasters, including Voice of America, BBC, and Radio France International. ? Gabon, 2004-Broadcasting station built. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Chinese Government Assistance To African Media ? Lesotho, 2003-2005-China provided $4.5 million in radio and TV equipment for expansion of the national network across the country. ? Guinea, 2001-Agreements worth about $9.6 million were signed in 2001 to build a radio and TV network to be run by the state.3 ? Sudan, 1997- $8 million for audio equipment ? Eritrea, 1994-$3.6 million to build a radio station headquarters 1 Examples listed are taken from e-mail from Brautigam to authors, May 25, 2010. Sources of additional information are noted. 2 Allan Kisia, "State Set to Expand FM Frequencies," Nation, February 28, 2006, http://allafrica.com/stories/200602280127.html 3 "China to Build a Radio-television Station in Guinea," Pan-African News Agency, February 14, 2001, http://allafrica.com/ stories/200102140381.html Center for International Media Assistance 15 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East however, that Chinese assistance to Zambian media achieved a scale sufficient to draw notice outside the country. 16 In that year, China lent the Zambian government $14.5 million (120.9 million yuan) for FM radio transmitters, as well as a new government complex.45 Fourteen transmitters were installed in seven of Zambia's nine provinces to improve reception of the state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corp. (ZNBC).46 In 2006 a loan of $560,000 (3.8 million yuan) went toward purchasing more transmitters47 that would extend ZNBC's FM signal across the entire country. Court judgement [sic] of 2006 effectively giving the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services the right to reject nominations for board members, this guarantee has been annulled," the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) reported in 2009. "In terms of ZNBC content there is a clear bias and the ruling party is given preference over opposition parties when it comes to coverage."48 Assessing ZNBC, the panel of experts who compiled IREX's 2006-07 Media Sustainability Index for Africa "suggested that the control of media by the state affects the balance of news content, especially political reporting. Ken Makungu [a lecturer at the University of Zambia] stated In 2002, China lent the Zambian that 'the influence from government in government $14.5 million for Zambia can be seen FM radio transmitters. Fourteen in the news content transmitters were installed in ... The information seven of Zambia's nine provinces is usually concerning what the government to improve reception of the is doing and little or state-owned Zambia National no information about achievements from Broadcasting Corp. their adversaries.'"49 On its face, such assistance would not be out of line with the kind frequently offered to developing countries by governments or media development groups in the West or Japan. Although ZNBC had been regarded as little more than a government mouthpiece for its entire history, longawaited legislation passed by the Zambian parliament in 2002 made ZNBC a public service broadcaster, governed by a board to which members would be appointed without government influence. But the legislation was never implemented, and ZNBC remains as much a tool of the government as ever. "The ZNBC Amendment Act of 2002 removed state control over the independence and thus provided a guarantee for editorial independence. However, as this act has not yet been implemented and with the Supreme Center for International Media Assistance In addition, both Chinese loans were awarded during election years in Zambia, "timed to support the pro-Beijing ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in its electoral campaign effort, especially in rural Zambia," according to Fackson Banda.50 The friendship between the two countries' governments is not universally shared among Zambians, and opposition parties have made an issue of some Zambians' resentment of Chinese aid and loans that have often resulted in jobs for Chinese workers, who typically stand apart from Zambian society in the way that Attwood described in Guinea in the early 1960s. Liberia In contrast with the enduring friendship between the governments of China and Zambia, state-to-state relations between China and Liberia have been vacillating and volatile, particularly over the past 20 years. Not only was Liberia ravaged by bloodshed and anarchy during the civil war launched in late 1989 by Charles Taylor, remaining in turmoil during Taylor's 1997-2003 presidency, but a succession of Liberian governments switched allegiances between Beijing and Taipei four times. The stakes were viewed as high for both governments. In 1989, shortly before Taylor's rebels invaded from the Ivory Coast and ensured his eventual demise, then-President Samuel K. Doe repudiated Beijing and chose to recognize Taiwan. In 1993, a transitional government propped up by West African peacekeeping troops switched back to recognition of Beijing, but Taylor reverted to the Taiwanese in 1997. When Taylor, who is now on trial for crimes against humanity, was driven into exile in 2003, Liberia once again recognized Beijing.52 When Taylor went into exile, the PRC's leadership responded the following year with $3 million to cover 100 days of operation of a transitional government and, after Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson was elected Africa's first female head of state in 2006, gave $1.5 million to her administration for budgetary support. "Cash transfers are highly unusual for China's normal aid ... Economic crisis and fragile states are omnipresent in Africa, but reports of Chinese budget support are not," American University's Brautigam writes. "I suspect that it may require Taiwan waiting in the wings to call forth actual cash from the keepers of the coffers in China."54 If so, concern over diplomatic recognition may also explain why China's major media assistance project in Liberia so closely resembles the one in Zambia: loans for FM transmitters to expand coverage of the state broadcasting system. And, as in Zambia, Liberia's democratic government appears reluctant to grant independence to its most effective mouthpiece. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East In the end, it is not clear that the Chinese transmitters fully achieved their intended purpose. "The state's radio signal covers all 72 districts," MISA reported in 2009. "However, the quality of the broadcast signal is relatively weak in some more remote parts of the country, because of a lack of proper equipment to boost the signal, resulting in snowy TV pictures and poor radio reception quality."51 During Taylor's trial prosecutors revealed that Taiwan had paid Taylor $20 million in eight installments in order to maintain diplomatic recognition. "Michel Lu, a Taiwan diplomat, said in an interview with the New York Times that his government offered 'deep regret' for a 'humiliating"' turn of events. He said that [Taiwan], internationally isolated, was under tremendous pressure from Mr. Taylor, who 'threatened to cut off relations,' and that his nation had since discarded checkbook-style diplomacy."53 The civil war left the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) heavily damaged, and as recently as 2007, its FM signal barely extended 80 miles from the capital, Monrovia.55 But in February Center for International Media Assistance 17 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East of that year, Chinese President Hu visited Liberia, and "a major package of economic and technical assistance was announced": the building of modern FM and shortwave services for the LBS.56 By November 2008, Liberian and Chinese officials were celebrating completion of the LBS-China Aided FM Radio Expansion Project, which cost $4 million and left LBS "well placed to cover the entire country with relay outstations in six counties, including Lofa, Bong, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Bomi, and Maryland. The facilities are also equipped with a microwave satellite link to boost transmitted signals from the system's headquarters in Monrovia to its stations around the country," according to a presidential press release from Liberia's Executive Mansion. The Chinese government would provide maintenance for the system for one year, after which a Chinese company would maintain it under contract for four more years.57 At the November 19 handover ceremony, Sirleaf-Johnson said that China's decision to expand LBS broadcasting could not have come at a better time, according to the press release, "given the ever increasing need to adequately inform Liberians of the progress taking place in the country ... The President reminded the management of LBS to ensure that the station remains objective, neutral, and apolitical in the dissemination of information to the Liberian people, adding, 'concentrate on development.'"58 Analysts say, however, that objectivity and neutrality are not hallmarks of LBS. IREX's 2008 Media Sustainability Index for Africa contends that, even as newly established independent radio stations offer Liberians a variety of viewpoints, "the state-run radio 18 Center for International Media Assistance station has continued to largely propagate the views of the government with limited coverage of dissenting political opinions, especially coverage of opposition events."59 "Basically the system that the Chinese gave to the [Liberian government] is quite good from a technology point of view, although they haven't improved on the journalism/programming side," said Michael Keating, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts-Boston's McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies. "I do not believe it is the intention of this government to turn this capability into a 'true' public broadcaster but rather they will use it to bolster the administration's position in the upcoming 2011 election cycle. There is a law rolling around to convert the [LBS] to a public broadcaster, but there is no lobbying being done to pass the law and the government is not interested."60 The expansion project also provided for the airing of English-language newscasts from China Radio International over LBS. At the handover ceremony, China Radio International Vice President Wang Yunpeng said: "Liberian people will from now on be able to listen to the voices of 1.3 billion friendly Chinese people, rather than to learn of China only through third-party media. This will further enhance friendship and mutual understanding between the Chinese and Liberian peoples." He then presented 500 radios as gifts to Sirleaf-Johnson.61 Zimbabwe As with so much else in the country, China's relationship with Zimbabwe is closely identified with one man: Robert Mugabe. There are few more secretive governments than those in Beijing and Harare. As such, details about Chinese aid to Zimbabwe tend to be mostly anecdotal, and little is known about its broader dimensions. In the West, most discussions of such aid tend to be short on specifics and long on assertions that support for Mugabe's dictatorship embodies China's disregard for the political and social fallout from its avowedly apolitical approach to aid. Likewise, Chinese assistance to Zimbabwean media tends to get lost in broader debates over bigger initiatives. In March 2005, Zimbabwe jammed shortwave broadcasts by SW Radio Africa, a privately-owned radio station based in London that employs Zimbabwean journalists living in exile, according to Reporters Without Borders, which alleged that the jamming equipment had been supplied by the Chinese government. "Thanks to support from China, which exports its repressive expertise, Robert Mugabe's government has yet again just proved itself to be one of the most active predators of press freedom," the group said.63 Jamming was extended in September 2005 to include short-wave broadcasts by Voice of the People, a station run by exiled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. (ZBC) employees and beamed into Zimbabwe from a Radio Netherlands relay station in Madagascar. The following year, the Voice of America's "Studio 7," a program targeted at Zimbabwe, was also jammed. "According to sources in Zimbabwe, the jamming of Zimbabwean exile radio stations began after a group of Chinese technicians arrived in Harare in January 2005 under a trade accord between China and Zimbabwe," Reporters Without Borders said. "Housed at the Sheraton Hotel for three months, they reportedly carried out a number of installations including a radio jamming system using a ZBC transmitter in Gweru, in the centre of the country, and the ZBC Pockets Hill broadcasting centre in Highlands, a suburb of Harare."64 Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East When rival guerrilla factions were fighting to overthrow white-minority rule in what was then Rhodesia, China backed Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union, while the Soviet Union supported the Zimbabwe African People's Union, led by Joshua Nkomo. When Ian Smith's renegade white government was toppled and independence from Britain won in 1980, Mugabe's party had the upper hand, and he has ruled Zimbabwe ever since. "Of all the countries, China has been our strongest supporter ... the greatest of friends," Mugabe said in 1999.62 19 China In Latin America Ties to the Bolivarian States CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East While the PRC's economic, military, and political programs are widespread across Latin America, the Chinese media interests are particularly concentrated in Venezuela and other nations in the "Bolivarian Axis" led by Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?vez, including Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador.65 The principal tools used by the PRC in aiding Latin American nations in the realm of media: zz helping to finance and launch communications satellites that provide increased capacity for the host nations while expanding the reach of Chinese media into Latin America zz expense-paid excursions and media conferences in China for Latin American journalists zz the establishment of Confucius Institutes, which are PRC-sponsored cultural centers, across the region zz high-profile visits of senior PRC officials to the region to push for agreements to mutually strengthen media ties Until the early part of the 21st century, Latin America was a secondary or tertiary foreign policy and trade priority for the PRC. However, as domestic demand for raw materials such as copper, iron, petroleum, and foodstuffs grew dramatically in recent years, the PRC 20 Center for International Media Assistance has greatly accelerated its relationships in Latin America in an effort to insure its own internal commodity needs are met. At the same time, Latin America has become an increasingly attractive export market for Chinese goods, as well as a market open to Latin American exporters.66 Overall trade between Latin American and China has risen from about $10 billion in 2000 to more than $100 billion in 2009, and the PRC in 2009 supplanted the United States as Brazil's largest trading partner.67 In addition to the economic considerations, the PRC remains deeply committed to advancing its "One China" policy, insisting on recognition of the PRC as the sole Chinese state. While the PRC has made significant strides in isolating Taiwan diplomatically, Latin America has remained the most problematic region in this regard. Of the 23 countries that still recognize Taiwan, 12 are in Latin America and the Caribbean. These countries are Belize, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.68 Because of the relatively small size of the Central American and Caribbean nations, the PRC and Taiwan have often engaged in bidding wars to achieve diplomatic recognition. For example, the PRC outbid the ROC in an aid package to Dominica in 2004, offering $11 million in immediate aid and a $100 million package over the next six years, while the ROC balked at a $58 million request. However, since then only one country, the tiny island nation of St. Lucia, has switched allegiances--from the PRC to Taiwan. The decision drew an angry reaction from the PRC government, which warned other nations not to follow suit.69 The PRC is working hard to get the leftist populist governments in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Paraguay to sever ties to Taiwan. Ties to the Media with a life expectancy of up to 15 years, was launched in October 2008 with great fanfare.71 In Venezuela the stated purpose of the satellite communications was to enhance the capacity of rural areas to participate in educational programs, create the ability to provide long distance medical attention and education and update the nation's communications network. Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East However, there is an unmistakable The most visible and costly participation component of increasing the Venezuelan of the PRC in Latin America media government's ability to control the news and enterprises has been the sale and launching increase the viewership of Al? Presidente, of a communications Ch?vez's marathon satellite for live, weekly radio and Venezuela and TV broadcasts across The most visible and costly the signing of an the region. Ch?vez participation of the PRC in Latin said the satellite cost agreement to do the same for Bolivia. Venezuela $400 million America media enterprises has Both countries for construction, been the sale and launching have come under launch, and technical of a communications satellite increasingly harsh support and that it "will international put an end to media for Venezuela and the condemnation for terrorism and help us signing of an agreement to their efforts to spread our own truth, do the same for Bolivia. restrict freedom to wage the battle of of the press and ideas with efficiency silence opposition and transparency."72 news outlets, as well as for the respective leaders' constant attacks on freedom The money, however, may not have been of information and journalists.70 well spent. More than a year later the satellite was experiencing severe technical The satellites provide Spanish-language difficulties and was not providing television, Chinese government content to Latin high speed Internet, or communications America, clearly a Chinese priority. However, services, and the Venezuelan government they offer a collateral benefit to the host had stopped mentioning the project.73 government. They greatly enhance the capacity of the governments to broadcast The setback in Venezuela did not stop state-controlled programming across the the Bolivian government from signing country and beyond their own borders and a similar deal with China in April 2010. gives them a strong counterweight to the Bolivian president Evo Morales signed a already-crippled independent media. The $300 million agreement with the Chinese Venezuelan satellite dubbed Venesat-1, firm Great Wall, the same company that 21 built Venesat-1, to build the Tupac Katari communications satellite for the same purpose as the Venezuelan satellite.74 Like Ch?vez, Morales has had a contentious relationship with the independent media, whom he has called his enemy, and left little doubt that the new communications satellite would be used to greatly increase the reach of government broadcasts "The Catholic Church and the media are the only opposition I have left," Morales has said.75 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Hosting Media Delegations 22 five years the PRC's state news services have reported on six such visits for Latin American delegations, as well as several visits that were part of larger conferences. A Xinhua news service story on a 2006 visit is typical in repeatedly striking the themes of unity, friendship, and the need for mutual cooperation. It reported on a visit by "senior media professionals" of eight news organizations from six Latin American countries with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi: Hailing China-Latin America ties and cooperation in various fields, Given the limited resources and local focus Yang said China has always regarded of much of the Latin American media, travel Latin America as a good partner abroad is an important and friend. It is in perk and potential the fundamental For years the PRC and Taiwan inducement to print interests of the favorable stories. For people in China have hosted individual years the PRC and and Latin America journalists or national Taiwan have hosted to further the delegations of journalists, individual journalists friendly ties, Yang or national delegations said. China would often with the requirement of journalists, often like to make joint that the reporters write a with the requirement efforts with Latin certain number of favorable that the reporters America to promote write a certain number reports about the host nation in the friendly and of favorable reports mutually-beneficial exchange for the expense-paid cooperation.77 about the host nation jaunts of a week to 10 days. in exchange for the expense-paid jaunts of Three years later a 76 a week to 10 days. similar delegation was received by a much more senior However, in recent years the PRC has Communist Party official, perhaps signaling hosted not only large Latin American media the PRC government's sense that these delegations that were received by senior delegations merited a higher priority. The Chinese officials but has also organized state media reporting was much lengthier larger-scale media conferences aimed and more detailed than the earlier reports. at giving China and its model of media management legitimacy and currency. While The 2009 delegation was received by "senior a total accounting of Latin American media Communist Party of China (CPC) leader delegations was not available, over the past Li Changchun" in the Great Hall of the Center for International Media Assistance People. The delegation was made up of "media leaders" from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru visiting China "at the invitation of the Information Office of the State Council." The Growing Role of the Confucius Institutes One area where the PRC is concentrating its resources is on the creation of Confucius Institutes. These are government-funded agencies that promote Chinese language, culture, and understanding and serve as centers for outreach to local media. The first one in Latin America was established in Mexico City in February 2006.79 While the primary purpose of the institutes, which are global in their reach, is to teach Chinese to the local population, they are also a key component of the PRC's soft power strategy. In addition to the language training courses, Chinese culture is taught and there is constant outreach to the local media to portray China in a positive light. This is not dissimilar to the bi-national associations the United States government operated prior to the Cold War. These centers provided English language training, scholarships, English language literature, popular U.S. movies, and other cultural material. Center for International Media Assistance CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Hitting the familiar themes, Xinhua reported Li as saying he "hoped the delegates could take this opportunity to have more understanding of China's economic and social progress ... In recent years, the media of [China and Latin America] have made fruitful exchanges which have promoted understanding, he said."78 Since that opening, the program spread rapidly. Over the next two years the PRC opened 17 institutes in eight Latin American countries, spanning the political spectrum of the region. Five institutes were established in Mexico, three in Peru, two in Colombia, two in Chile, two in Brazil, one in Argentina, one in Cuba, and one in Costa Rica.80 23 China and Southeast Asia CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East Unlike Latin America and Africa, where China's influence has only recently been felt, Southeast Asia is a region where China has played a significant role for centuries. While many of the region's countries are flourishing democracies with vibrant free market systems, others, such as Vietnam, retain the socialist model with more limited economic reforms. A more publicly discussed issue is integrating the news-gathering and media operations of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with China. In October 2008 China and ASEAN signed a memorandum of understanding on information cooperation, designed to "further solidify the foundations for cooperation and partnership in the information and media sectors between ASEAN and China."82 From an extensive literature and media review it is clear that the PRC is investing significant time and energy to expand its media ties across the political spectrum. Over the past three It is clear that the PRC is years the PRC has In December 2008 investing significant time hosted or participated Singapore hosted a in various regional follow-up ASEAN-China and energy to expand its forums a year media ties across the political "Meeting on Media dealing with media; Collaboration," where spectrum. The overall objective those attending were greatly expanded the technological seems to be to make the PRC's encouraged to "discuss means to increase the co-production and other state media a prominent reach of official PRC media partnerships."83 news voice in the region. media; and signed Indonesian Information multiple agreements Minister Muhammad on media training. Nuh said the The overall objective seems to be to meeting was "to cooperate and exchange make the PRC's state media a prominent information which has a strategic role news voice in the region as well as one in stepping up information and media of its primary content providers. cooperation among ASEAN and China."84 As in Latin America and Africa, the PRC has placed considerable effort in Southeast Asia on forming "media partnerships" in which China provides a great deal of content for local media. The PRC also appears to be sharing its Internet control system, known as "The Great Firewall of China," with other Communist countries, particularly Vietnam. 24 The Vietnamese government has recently begun attacking and shutting down dissident websites in much the same way China does.81 Center for International Media Assistance Individual nations are also moving toward content sharing of their state media with Chinese state entities, while China is also rapidly expanding its regional reach. Bernama, the Malaysian national news agency, in 2009 agreed to work with China Radio International to jointly produce and exchange radio programs and exchange personnel.85 A month later Laos also announced plans to "enhance exchanges and cooperation" with China in news, media exchanges, and personnel training.86 China has also placed a great deal of emphasis on creating new media in recent years, primarily Internet-based broadcast sites in multiple languages aimed primarily at Southeast Asia. The most prominent is China Network Television, described by one publication as "a key weapon in a push to expand [the PRC's] Web presence" and inaugurated by "the powerful senior politician Li Changchun, a member of the Politburo."88 The article noted that "a lot of competition for CNTV has been swept away in recent months- the government has shut down many sites that provide video downloading services as part of a crackdown on 'unhealthy' content."89 To help replace the banned services, China Network Television is offering live webcasting of all the national television's 20 channels, as well as older shows. It is also providing access to two state-approved downloading services: Bugu, which provides live online broadcasts, video on demand, and 24/7 reruns of shows; and Xiyou, a community where users upload and share their videos.90 In another major step to expand its reach, Hunan TV, a major PRC station, signed a Singapore has been particularly valuable for China's new media expansion. Singapore's digital media companies have reached a series of agreements with Chinese companies that will amplify the PRC's voice across the region. In late 2009 a group of 30 digital media companies from Singapore, organized by the Media Development Authority of Singapore, signed a series of agreements with different Chinese state media entities, officially described as covering: the launch of a Chinese version of a popular Made-in-Singapore social networking game; a crossborder venture development and incubation effort for new media companies; the digitisation of Chinese television content by a Singapore service provider; a joint collaboration in the psychological analysis technologies on the internet, mobile and social networking sites; and, the commercialization of a word-of-mouth media channel in China based on a digital technology application developed in Singapore. 92 CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East At the same time, China announced the creation of the first regional radio broadcast aimed at Southeast Asia. Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio was jointly formed by China Radio International and Guangxi Foreign Broadcasting Station and broadcasts in five languages: English, Thai, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, and Cantonese. The potential audience was estimated at more than 100 million people.87 "strategic contract" to share content with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., an Asian-American media company that operates scores of radio stations, including 42 stations in 22 U.S. cities, and broadcasts in 38 languages.91 The goal of the PRC's expansion of the "new media" was explained by Qian Xiaogian, China's vice minister at the State Council Information Office during a meeting of editors from China and ASEAN nations. The new media, he said, "will bring new vigour and vitality to traditional media, and it will make us even more influential than ever before through multimedia and new technologies."93 Center for International Media Assistance 25 Conclusion CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East The People's Republic of China is seeking to influence the media in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia through a variety of means: direct aid to state-run media in the form of radio transmitters and financing for national satellites; the provision of content and technology to allies and potential allies; the sharing of news; and training programs and expensepaid trips for journalists to China. 26 This effort has accompanied a massive expansion of the PRC's own media internationally, primarily through the Xinhua news agency, satellite and Internet TV channels, and state run television services. It comes at a time when resources for media assistance in some regions of the world-notably Latin America-are becoming scarcer. Chinese news media, far less independent than Western media, form the basis for China's media assistance, which emphasizes cooperation with governments-many Center for International Media Assistance of them undemocratic-and rejects the Western media's role as watchdogs holding governments accountable. China's moves pose troubling questions for those in the Western media assistance sector. As the Chinese government propagates a less-than-free model of journalism and assists undemocratic regimes by supporting media that buttress them, advocates of free media and democratic government should take note. Media developers and donors might consider countering these developments with more robust support for independent media in the countries where China is assisting news media. This might include more programs in investigative journalism, ethics, and internationally recognized journalism standards, as well as support for digital media infrastructure, such as broadband Internet access in developing countries to provide citizens with increased access to information. Endnotes 1. John Pomfret, "From China's Mouth to Texans' Ears: Outreach Includes Small Station in Galveston," Washington Post, April 25, 2010, A01, http://www. washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ article/2010/04/24/AR2010042402492.html. 2. John Pomfret, personal interview with author, April 26, 2010. 4. "World Media Should Balance Competition and Cooperation," Bernama, October 9, 2009. 5. Mary Myers, Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States, a report to the Center for International Media Assistance, December 3, 2009, 12. 6. Thomas Lum et al., "China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia," Congressional Research Service, February 25, 2009, http://italy. usembassy.gov/pdf/other/R40361.pdf. 7. Lum et al., "China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, 2009, 2. 8. Deborah Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, Oxford University Press, 2009, 169. 9. Myers, Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States, 2009, 47. 11. Myers, Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States, 2009, 12. 12. Clifford Coonan, "China Puts TV Online to Boost Image," Daily Variety, December 29, 2009. The story does not give details of the timeframe for the investment or how it would be divided among the three services. 13. John Pomfret, personal interview with author, April 26, 2010. 14. Josh Frank, "China Adds New Voice to Global Lineup of English TV News Channels," Los Angeles Times, July 4, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/04/ world/la-fg-0704-china-news-20100704. 15. "Third World Needs Vibrant Media to Counter Propaganda." CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East 3. See for example: "Third World Needs Vibrant Media to Counter Propaganda," This Day,Lagos, Nigeria, December 7, 2009, http://allafrica. com/stories/200912071256.html. 10. Lum et al., "China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, 2009, 5. 16. Ibid. 17. "Hong Kong Paper On Rivalry Between Chinese News Agency, State Broadcaster," BBC Monitoring Service, January 1, 2010, taken from the South China Morning Post website. 18. "Interview: World Media Summit to Help Global Media Explore Ways of Survival: Xinhua President," Xinhua General News Service, October 7, 2009, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/200910/07/content_12191612.htm. Center for International Media Assistance 27 19. Ibid. 32. Ibid. 20. Pomfret. 33. Martyn Davies, with Hannah Edinger, Nastasya Tay and Sanusha Naidu, How China Delivers Development Assistance to Africa, Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2008, 14. 21. Journalists in Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Colombia, interviews with author. 22. Weng Shuo, event on "The Future of Independent News in China," National Press Club, Washington D.C., April 26, 2010. 23. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 54. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East 24. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 32. 25. William Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks: A Personal Adventure, New York: Harper and Row, 1967, 97. 26. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 2. 27. Lum et al. "China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, 2009, 9. 28. Huwawei website, http://www.huawei. com/africa/en/catalog.do?id=521. 29. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 163. 30. Martyn Davies, Frontier Advisory CEO, speaking at the Oil and Gas Africa conference, Cape Town, South Africa, March 19, 2009, quoted in Jade Davenport, "Africa Expands Oil Production Capacity, Demand from China Strong," Engineering News Online, http:// www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/ africa-expands-oil-production-capacitydemand-from-china-strong-2010-03-17. 31. Fackson Banda, "China in the African Mediascape," Rhodes Journalism Review, September 29, 2009, 52. 28 Center for International Media Assistance 34. "Beijing Action Plan (2007-2009)," November 16, 2006, http://www.focac.org/ eng/ltda/dscbzjhy/DOC32009/t280369.htm. 35. "Sharm el Sheikh Action Plan (20102012)," November 12, 2009, http://www. focac.org/eng/dsjbzjhy/hywj/t626387.htm. 36. Banda, "China in the African Mediascape," 53. 37. "Notice: Xinhua Opens China African News Service," Xinhua News Agency, January 2, 2008, http://findarticles.com/p/ news-articles/xinhua-news-agency-ceis/ mi_8007/is_20080102/notice-xinhuaopens-china-african/ai_n41803264/. 38. Ibid. 39. Stephen Muyakwa, speaking at workshop on Chinese investment in Zambia, Courtyard Hotel, Lusaka, Zambia, March 17, 2009, quoted in Chinese Aid and Investment in Zambia: National Consultation Workshop, African Forum and Networking on Debt and Development, 2009, 14, http://www. afrodad.org/downloads/China%20In%20 Africa%20Zambia%20report.pdf. 40. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 40. 41. Ibid. 42. "Govt, China Sign Pacts," Times of Zambia, February 26, 2010, http://allafrica. com/stories/201002260128.html. 43. "Chinese Follow Normal Tender Procedure," Times of Zambia, March 24, 2010, http://allafrica.com/ stories/201003240683.html. 44. "Mwaanga Hails Chinese Government," Times of Zambia, September 9, 2005, http:// allafrica.com/stories/200509090296.html. 46. Myers, Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States, 2009, 20. 47. AFRODAD, "Afrodad Fact Sheet," 48. African Media Barometer: Zambia 2009, Media Institute of Southern Africa and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung fesmedia Africa, 2009, 51, http://www.misa.org/programme/ mediamonitoring/AMBZambia2009.pdf. 49. Media Sustainability Index 2006/2007: Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Africa, IREX, 2008, 370, http://www.irex.org/programs/MSI_ Africa/20067/2007/MSI07_zambia.pdf. 50. Banda, "China in the African Mediascape," 53 51. African Media Barometer: Zambia 2009, 53. 52. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 68, and BBC News, "Timeline: Liberia," http:// news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1043567.stm. 53. Doreen Carvajal, "As Liberian Stands 54. Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift, 127. 55. Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands International Media Network blog, June 30, 2007, quoting TheLiberianTimes. com, http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/ china-releases-financial-grant-torevitalize-liberia-broadcasting-system. 56. Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands International Media Network blog, February 3, 2007, quoting The Analyst, Monrovia, http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/chineseto-build-fm-and-shortwave-stationsfor-liberian-broadcasting-system. 57. Executive Mansion news release, November 19, 2008, http://www.emansion. gov.lr/press.php?news_id=950. 58. Ibid. 59. Media Sustainability Index 2008: Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Africa, IREX, 2009, 196, http:// www.irex.org/programs/MSI_Africa/2008/ pdfs/2-Africa_08_liberia.pdf. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East 45. AFRODAD, "Afrodad Fact Sheet," http://www.afrodad.org/downloads/publications/Zambia%20Factsheet.pdf. Trial, Investigators Lose Scent in Hunt for Missing Millions," New York Times, June 6, 2010, A6, http://query.nytimes. com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E4D8 173CF935A35755C0A9669D8B63. 60. Michael Keating (associate director of the Center for Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts-Boston's McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies), e-mail to the author, May 11, 2010. 61. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China website, "Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Attends the Hand-over Ceremony of Center for International Media Assistance 29 China-aided LBS Rehabilitation and Expansion Project and the Launching of CRI FM Programs in Liberia," November 19, 2008, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ eng/wjb/zwjg/zwbd/t522907.htm. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East 62. Martin Meredith, Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe, PublicAffairs, 2007, 156-7. 63. Reporters Sans Fronti?res, "UN System Body Asked to Intervene in Zimbabwe's Jamming of Radio Broadcasts from London," March 22, 2005, http:// en.rsf.org/zimbabwe-un-system-bodyasked-to-intervene-22-03-2005,12955.html. 64. Reporters Sans Fronti?res, "Jamming of Radio Stations Extended to VOA," July 6, 2006, http://en.rsf.org/ zimbabwe-jamming-of-radio-stationsextended-06-07-2006,18218.html. 65. This is in part because China is making a significant push into Venezuela, particularly in the field of hydrocarbon exploitation, recently extending a vitally needed $20 billion loan to the Ch?vez government, to be repaid with 100,000 barrels of oil a day for 10 years. See: Fabiola S?nchez, "Venezuela to Pay Chinese Loan with Crude, Trade," Associated Press, April 22, 2010, http://www.businessweek. com/ap/financialnews/D9F8EF901.htm. 66. For a comprehensive look at the driving factors in China's relationship with Latin America see: R. Evan Ellis, China in Latin America: The Whats and Wherefores, Rienner Publishers, Boulder, Colorado, 2009. 67. Rory Carroll, "China Pours Its Wealth into Latin America," The 30 Center for International Media Assistance Observer, Great Britain, April 18, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ apr/18/china-brazil-south-america-trade. 68. Daniel P. Erikson, "The New Challenge: China in the Western Hemisphere," Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere," InterAmerican Dialogue, June 11, 2008. 69. "China Warns Caribbean It Does Not Recognize Taiwan as Independent State," BBC Monitoring Service, Latin America, April 30, 2008. See also: Ellis, China in Latin America: The Whats and Wherefores, 15. 70. For a complete look at the violations of press freedoms in Venezuela see: "Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela," Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, OEA/Ser.L/II, Doc. 54, December 30, 2009, http://www.cidh.org/pdf%20files/ VENEZUELA%202009%20ENG.pdf. For a look at violations in Bolivia see: Douglas Farah, "Into the Abyss: Bolivia Under Evo Morales and the MAS," International Assessment and Strategy Center, April 2009, http://www.aei.org/docLib/MCA2.pdf. 71. "Venezuela's First Satellite Launched from China," CNN.com, October 30, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ space/10/30/venezuela.satellite/index.html. 72. Kris Kraul, "Venezuela Deepens Trade, Military Ties with China," Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2009, http:// articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/12/ world/fg-venezuela-china12. 73. Adolfo Fabregat, "The Mystery of the Venezuelan Satellite," American Thinker, May 20, 2009, http://www.americanthinker. com/2009/05/the_mystery_of_the_venezuelan.html; and "Sat?lite Bolivariano a Punto de Perderse," Noticiero Digital, Venezuela, May 24, 2009, http://www. noticierodigital.com/2009/05/satelitebolivariano-a-punto-de-perderse/. 75. Martin Arostegui, "Church Challenges Bolivia's Morales: Contends Leftist President Is Seeking 'Excessive' Power," Washington Times, January 4, 2009, http:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/ jan/04/church-challenges-bolivias-morales/. 76. Journalists who have participated in the trips and asked not to be named from El Salvador, Ecuador, and Bolivia, interviews with author. 77. "Chinese Vice FM Meets Latin American Media Delegation," Xinhua, May 17, 2006, http://www.gov.cn/ misc/2006-05/17/content_282464.htm. 78. "Senior CPC Leader Meets Latin American Media Delegation," Xinhua General News Service, September 2, 2009, http://news.xinhuanet.com/ english/2009-09/02/content_11985226.htm. 79. "Costa Rica Gets Confucius Institute," Chinadaily.com.cn, November 19, 2008. 80. Ibid. This is a relatively small part of the overall Confucius Institute program, which by late 2008 had established itself in 81. "Vietnam Steps Up China-Style Internet Control," Agence FrancePresse, July 1, 2010, http://www. france24.com/en/20100701-vietnamsteps-china-style-internet-control. 82. "China, ASEAN Agree on Information Cooperation," The Vietnam News Agency, October 18, 2008, http:// news.xinhuanet.com/english/200810/17/content_10206495.htm. 83. "Singapore to Host ASEANChina Meeting on Media Collaboration," Malaysian National News Service, October 16, 2008. 84. "RI Stepping up Cooperation in Information with China, ASEAN," Antara Newswire, Indonesia, October 16, 2008. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East 74. "Bolivia, Chinese Firm Sign Deal to Build Satellite," EFE Ingl?s, April 1, 2010, http://www.laprensasa.com/2.0/3/309/639162/ America-in-English/Bolivia-Chinesefirm-sign-deal-to-build-satellite.html. 37 countries and had 307 branches. The Institutes are run by the PRC's Office of Chinese Language Council International, known as Hanban, under the Ministry of Education. The first institute was set up in Seoul, South Korea in 2004. Among the countries with the most Confucius Institutes is the United States, with 64 Institutes, mostly affiliated with major universities and 35 additional Confucius classrooms. 85. "Bernama to Exchange Radio, TV Programmes With CRI," Bernama, October 11, 2009. 86. "Laos Expects to Strengthen News, Media Cooperation with China," Xinhua News Service, November 7, 2009, http://english.peopledaily.com. cn/90001/90776/90883/6806801.html. 87. Peter Olszewski, "Regional Chinese Radio Station Broadcasts Center for International Media Assistance 31 Throughout Southeast Asia," Media Blab Bites, October 26, 2009. 91. "China-TMT-TV," China Telecommunications Newswire, November 13, 2009. 88. Clifford Coonan, "China Puts TV Online to Boost Image," Daily Variety, December 29, 2009. 92. Ibid. 89. Ibid. CIMA Research Report: Winds From the East 90. Ibid. 32 Center for International Media Assistance 93. "New Media to Enhance ASEANChina Cooperation," Nam News Network and Bernama, March 24, 2010, http:// news.brunei.fm/2010/03/24/new-mediato-enhance-asean-china-cooperation/. Advisory Council for the Center for International Media Assistance David Anable Craig LaMay Patrick Butler Caroline Little Esther Dyson The Honorable Richard Lugar William A. Galston Eric Newton Suzanne Garment William Orme Karen Elliott House Dale Peskin Ellen Hume Adam Clayton Powell III Jerry Hyman Monroe E. Price Alex S. Jones The Honorable Adam Schiff Shanthi Kalathil Kurt Wimmer Susan King Richard Winfield Center for International Media Assistance National Endowment for Democracy 1025 F Street, N.W., Suite 800 Washington, D.C. 20004 Phone: (202) 378-9700 Fax: (202) 378-9407 Email: CIMA@ned.org URL: http://cima.ned.org