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Outlet profile

Xinhua / China Military

Chinese state (Communist Party-controlled)

Owned byXinhua News Agency is a ministry-level state institution under China's State Council and is run under Communist Party leadership. China Military Online is the English-language site of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily and the PLA News Media Center. It is authorized by the Central Military Commission, which Xi Jinping chairs.
FundingBoth are funded by the Chinese state. Xinhua's budget for the latest reported year was about CNY 6.5 billion. Roughly 29–32% of that came from direct government appropriation. About half came from institutional income such as subscriptions to its wire and content services and commercial services, according to State Media Monitor. China Military Online is funded through the military's budget.
On the administrationmixed

Background

Xinhua traces its origin to the Red China News Agency, which the Chinese Communist Party founded in November 1931 in Ruijin. It was renamed Xinhua in the 1930s and adopted its current name in January 1937 in Yan'an. After 1949 it became the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China, and it now serves as a ministry-level body under the State Council. It operates hundreds of bureaus worldwide, offers multilingual wire and video services, and in some cases acts as a gatekeeper for foreign news distributed in China. The U.S. government required Xinhua's U.S. operations to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and in 2020 the State Department designated it a foreign mission. China Military Online is the only official English-language military news site of the Chinese armed forces. It began in 2003 as the online English edition of the PLA Daily and took its current name in 2007. The PLA Daily has been the army's official newspaper since January 1956, under the Central Military Commission. Both outlets amplify official statements, defend Chinese positions on Taiwan, the South China Sea and trade, and criticize U.S. policy. They do not offer independent editorial criticism of the Chinese government. They do publish accurate basic facts such as official statements, dates and economic data, but with selective framing. Press freedom groups classify both as state propaganda instruments.

Sources

  1. Xinhua – State Media Monitor
  2. Xinhua News Agency – Wikipedia
  3. Obligation of Xinhua News Agency North America to Register – U.S. DOJ FARA
  4. China Military Online
  5. About Us – China Military
  6. People's Liberation Army Daily – Wikipedia

Profile compiled 2026-10-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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