China’s new tech diplomacy: Foreign journalists get a front-row seat

(Edited and refined by Josephine Hong, with the assistance of AI translation.)

Standing in front of a massive LED screen displaying slides and diagrams, senior Pakistani journalist Moiz Farooq took the stage to enthusiastically share his takeaways from a media training in China before an audience of over 400 peers, think tank experts and government representatives from 42 countries and regions.

Moiz Farooq, executive editor of Pakistan’s Daily Ittehad Media Group, was deeply inspired by the “joint interview and training exchange session” hosted by China’s state news agency Xinhua earlier this year. During the Asia-Pacific Media Forum hosted by Xinhua on 5 September, he presented details of the three-day training programme, including a session where Xinhua leaders analysed the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on journalism, a visit to a robotics innovation centre in Beijing, and a tour of cultural landmarks such as Dashilan.

Shenzhen takes centre stage

The forum took place in Shenzhen, China. Long celebrated as one of China’s star cities, Shenzhen finds itself in an even brighter spotlight this year as it prepares to host the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November — making it the third Chinese city to hold the event, following Beijing and Shanghai. Hosting a high-profile summit of international political and economic leaders is a historical first for Shenzhen. 

This signals the city’s rising status within China while underscoring strategic considerations from China’s top leadership: Beijing intends to use Shenzhen as a window to demonstrate to global political figures, business leaders and media that China is an open, innovative and tech-driven land of opportunity.

Politically, Shenzhen has always carried strong symbolic weight. As the cradle of China’s reform and opening up and a testing ground for institutional innovation, it was recently entrusted with the mission of becoming a “demonstration area for socialism with Chinese characteristics”. With the Shenzhen APEC summit approaching, Huang Kunming, party secretary of Guangdong, recently declared that Guangdong aims to build a higher ground in policy institutions connecting China with the Asia-Pacific. Last month, Shenzhen held an event to mark the 100-day countdown to the APEC Summit, pledging to spare no effort in welcoming guests from around the world to “meet in Shenzhen, witness its miracles”.

The Asia-Pacific Media Forum hosted by Xinhua represents one of Beijing’s key moves to leverage the momentum surrounding the Shenzhen APEC summit. Xinhua invited representatives from major global media outlets to tour Shenzhen as well as nearby Dongguan and Foshan, allowing them to experience the enormous potential unlocked by AI-empowered Chinese manufacturing, alongside Shenzhen’s vibrant cultural life and environmental achievements. Including the main summit and breakout sessions, the event spanned three days.

The gathering featured a distinguished lineup of international media leaders. Attendees ranged from top executives of ASEAN media outlets — such as the CEO of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), director of news at Indonesia’s Antara News Agency, and editor-in-chief of the Jakarta Globe — to senior leaders such as the senior vice-president of CNN, co-managing editor for Asia-Pacific at Bloomberg and chairman of Aju News Corporation.

China’s media diplomacy and exchange

It was in this setting that Moiz Farooq delivered his address, proudly sharing that he had been named an “outstanding participant”. Although Pakistan is not an APEC member, it shares close ties with China, maintaining an “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership”. Hence, Moiz’s enthusiastic participation in training provided by Chinese state media comes as no surprise.

Yet, his experience is far from an isolated case. For years, China has consistently offered reporting trips and exchange activities structured around media training for journalists from the Asia-Pacific and developing nations through official agencies and prestigious universities. While this practice itself is not new, what warrants attention is how Chinese organisers have grown increasingly mature, sophisticated and varied in their training methods.

More importantly, while Chinese media has long struggled with a deficit in international discourse power, China possesses a wealth of advanced experience beyond the media sector that it can showcase, such as manufacturing, “AI+” integration, logistics, business models, and even clever product design and innovations that make everyday life more convenient. These areas form a rich repository of knowledge that foreign observers are genuinely eager to learn from and understand.

Even within the media sector, Chinese organisations continue to advance technical innovation, update concepts and accumulate hands-on experience in AI application, social media development and algorithm management. This has attracted foreign media seeking new models and references. In other words, Chinese media’s achievements in tech integration have enabled them to “train” international peers in these areas.

In conjunction with this year’s APEC summit in Shenzhen, Xinhua released the “Shenzhen Consensus” at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum, established the Organizing Committee of the Asia-Pacific Media Partnership Program, and released a report based on the Asia-Pacific Communication Index. Media leaders from several APEC economies also took the stage to exchange cooperation documents with their Chinese counterparts.

Telling China’s story well with tech

In international competition — particularly among great powers — military and economic strength, and influence over public opinion have always been contested battlegrounds. As China’s economy and military capabilities grow, it has persistently sought to expand its external communication efforts, emphasising the need to “tell China’s story well” and counter criticism abroad. This is by no means simply about saving face or improving the country’s image. It is a national strategy designed to serve practical interests. 

In earlier years, China focused heavily on traditional “telling” and “propaganda”. Today, it has shifted its emphasis away from ideological debate and moral disagreements towards technology sharing. Through technological innovation and openness, it aims to project a more dynamic image of China to international media professionals.

Although the US reduced its international aid last year, it has not abandoned global media engagement as a key arena of competition. As a challenger, China has long operated at an ideological disadvantage. However, as the US leans into protectionism and unilateralism in trade and global rules, China is leveraging technological innovation to compensate for its shortcomings in international discourse, using tech empowerment to forge connections across international media. 

Displacing US narrative dominance will not happen overnight. But China’s efforts have been progressing year after year, it is bound to gradually yield results. The upcoming APEC summit in Shenzhen may well serve as another milestone reflecting this long-term shift.

This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as “当中国利用科技创新培训外国媒体”.

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