China plans global media expansion

CHINA: China's Communist Party wants stepped-up international propaganda to match the nation's rising might, a move that would include new television channels and overseas newspapers, officials said.

After setting up French and Spanish language television channels ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China Central Television (CCTV) is also planning new channels in Russian and Arabic, station officials told AFP on Wednesday.

"We began preparing for the Arabic channel in September," said an official with the new service who asked not to be named.

"We plan to launch in September... and will hire about 100 Arabic speaking people ... we don't need to worry about the money, CCTV has all the money."

In a speech Monday the nation's top official for ideology, Li Changchun, called for more overseas propaganda, which he said.

Beijing, Wednesday, AFP