EYE ON AMERICA? - CHINESE MEDIA IN THAILAND

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 005705

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: OPRC PREL PGOV CH TH ASEAN
SUBJECT: EYE ON AMERICA? - CHINESE MEDIA IN THAILAND

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Classified By: Political Counselor Susan M. Sutton, Reasons 1.4 (B) (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY. Representing television, radio and print
media, six Mainland Chinese press outlets are present in
Thailand. Each organization's mandate varies, but all have
small staffs and budgets. Most reporters do not speak Thai
and English appears to be their working language. While the
Guangming Daily prefers to report on Thai cultural and
special interest pieces, the Xinhua News Agency is attempting
to secure a foothold in providing hard news in Thailand
through its multimedia database. CCTV (China Central
Television) covers only official Chinese visits and "sudden
developments" in the region. Several of the newspapers have
inserts in local Thai newspapers while the CCTV provides
video feeds to a Thai news channel. These media outlets are
also keenly focused on strategic US engagements with ASEAN
and the SEA region. End summary.


THE PLAYERS
--------------


2. (SBU) There are six Mainland Chinese media outlets in
Thailand -- Xinhua News Agency, China News Agency (Zhongxin
She),People's Daily News Agency, Guangming Daily Media
Group, China Central Television (CCTV),and China Radio
International (CRI). Of these, Xinhua News have been in
Thailand the longest, established here in 1975. While larger
operations such as Xinhua News have country bureaus in every
ASEAN-member country except Laos, Bangkok is the regional hub
for smaller, one-person operations such as Guangming Daily.
(Note: For comparison -- AP, AFP, Reuters and Kyoto all have
large regional offices in Bangkok. CNN, BBC, Star, NHK and
Australian Broadcasting Corporation have television
facilities. End note.)


3. (C) Chinese staff all positions in these outlets, sent
from their headquarters in Beijing. Terry Li (protect),
Thailand Bureau Chief for Guangming Daily, told Poloff that
there is no Thai staff in his office because "there is no
budget." Xinhua reporter, Ling Shuo explained that the
Chinese media have adopted the "one-man reporter/cameraman"
concept for its overseas operations to save cost. CCTV
reporter, Wang Yuguo, said that he was sent overseas because
he could "film, interview and produce segments on his own."


4. (C) While a few of the reporters speak Thai, most of the
journalists use English as their working language. As a Thai
speaker, Zhang Qiulai (Thailand Bureau Chief for Xinhua News)
explained that "the number of Thai speakers in China are so
few that you can count them with your fingers" because most
universities do not offer Thai language courses.


THE GAME
--------------

NUMBERS VARY


5. (C) Mandates for the media outlets vary vastly, as do
their monthly output quotas. While small operations like the
Guangming Daily are asked to produce five monthly articles,
Xinhua sources claim that their office produces upwards of
300 news items a month. Wang of CCTV explained that, unlike
Xinhua, CCTV's international department is still relatively
young. His two-men office in Thailand is asked only to
travel with Chinese delegations during official visits and to
cover "sudden developments" in the region such as natural
disasters. The number of news pieces produced thus varies
from month-to-month.

TOPICS VARY


6. (C) Zhang told Poloff that Xinhua currently has more than
100 branch offices in over ninety countries with a mandate to
report on news-worthy items across the spectrum. (Note: For
comparison -- Reuters has 196 bureaus in 130 countries and AP
has 240 bureaus in 130 countries. End note.) Interestingly,
a frustrated Li (Guangming Daily) told Poloff that because
newspapers such as Guangming, Xinhua and People's Daily are
state-owned (under the Chinese Propaganda Department),they
are asked to "refrain from writing political and economic
pieces," since it may be "misconstrued as official PRC views"
on the subject. Instead, Li's editor asks him to produce
stories on Thai culture and "feel-good" special interest
pieces, which, he commented, are hard to find.

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COMMENT


7. (C) Zhang's claim that his office reports on all aspects
of news - politics included - in Thailand starkly contrasts
with Li's assertions. Ling's (Xinhua reporter) number of
over 300 news items a month reported also appears exaggerated
given the bureau's three-person operation. One possible
explanation may be that the office includes individual
photographs and short items as new stories to bolster their
numbers for their bosses in Beijing. End comment.


MULTI-MEDIA: WAVE OF THE FUTURE
--------------


8. (C) Despite the large number of required news items, the
reporters at Xinhua seemed more interested in selling the
Xinhua Multimedia Database (http://info.xinhua.org/eng) to
the Thai public (Comment: and to Poloff) than to talk about
their reporting responsibilities. Zhang proudly informed
Poloff that his database now boasts "over a hundred household
subscribers." Yet with the goal of catching up to major wire
services such as the Associated Press (AP) or Reuters, Zhang
admitted that "there is still a long way to go."


OTHER COLLABORATIONS
--------------


9. (C) Xinhua has been relatively successful in promoting
its multimedia outlet in Thailand. Not only do the six local
Thai-Chinese newspapers (including the Taiwanese-owned
Universal Daily News) all take feeds from Xinhua, Ling
claimed that it also powers most of the cell phone
news-update engines in Thailand. (Note: Xinhua's Database
also takes feeds from AP and Reuters. End note.)
Separately, several local newspapers carry weekly inserts
from People's Daily and China Daily.


10. (C) Wang of CCTV told Poloff that Channel 9 in Thailand
(Note: State-owned, nightly news broadcast viewership around
2 million. End note.) is also working with a branch company
of CCTV to work on collaborative "special focus" programming.
Their last special was on the Thai King's Jubilee
Celebrations. In addition, Wang mentioned that there have
been plans to create a Chinese-Thai Channel in the works
since last year between CCTV and a local Thai channel,
although he did not elaborate on the details. Wang explained
that the Thai want to collaborate with CCTV because "they
want CCTV's satellite access both to the world and within the
PRC." "Imagine the increase in viewership," Wang added.


EYES ON AMERICA
--------------


11. (S/NF) Other than reporting on Thai news and
establishing a "soft-power" presence in Thailand, the Chinese
media here are also keenly interested in US involvement with
the ASEAN countries. Li of Guangming Daily asked Poloff not
to mention their meeting to other Chinese nationals before
leaning over and bluntly informing Poloff that,
strategically, China's presence in Thailand is to "keep a
close eye on the US." Li asserted that China has been
concerned with the US "change of attitude toward ASEAN,"
including the recent signing of the ASEAN-US Enhanced
Partnership agreement. Li stated that China believes this is
a strategic move to "counterbalance the PRC" in the region.


12. (S/NF) Li suggested that China has "double insurance"
for maintaining influence in Thailand -- China's increasing
involvement in the Thai economy and the large number of
ethnic Chinese-Thai who hold wealth and political power in
the country -- and therefore is not overly concerned with
losing influence in Thailand. In fact, Li added that Chinese
strategic policies "tend to be passive elsewhere unless it
concerns America, Taiwan, or the oil-producing countries."
Li also suggested that India is becoming a new concern for
China for various reasons including recent Indian offers to
help safeguard the Malacca Strait.


13. (S/NF) COMMENT: Li's assertions, though extreme at face
value, appear to be in line with post's own observations of
both Chinese diplomats and members of the PRC media in
Thailand. Although engaging and forthcoming, Chinese

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diplomats are rarely interested in the minutiae of Thai
politics and are much more interested in US involvement with
ASEAN, in particular the ASEAN-US Enhanced Partnership and
the ASEAN-US Dialogue that took place earlier in May. The
Chinese media's curiosity is even more obvious. PRC
reporters swarm to US military functions -- such as the
opening ceremonies of the Cobra Gold exercise or ship visits
like the recent port call of the USS Abraham Lincoln. For
example, six reporters from Xinhua showed up for the opening
of the Cobra Gold exercise last year despite Xinhua only
having three reporters on staff in Bangkok. While these
reporters were not "misbehaving" in any way, their attention
seemed to be more focused on taking photographs of the
machinery and headshots of US officers present than with
filing any news stories. End comment.
ARVIZU