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Government control over increasingly market-driven Chinese media is said to be decreasing

Participants during a session of the 'China-ASEAN Workshop on News Website Development and Cooperation' in Beijing, China, 1 September 2014. Chay Hofilea/Rappler

BEIJING, China Perceived as a regional bully by smaller countries with whom it has maritime or territorial disputes, China is engaging in what it calls "E-public diplomacy."

It is building relations with media from member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), inviting online journalists for the very first time to its "China-ASEAN Workshop on News Website Development and Cooperation."

In the past, China invited only traditional media for its programs, according to Zhu Xiaozhong, deputy director of the E-Public diplomacy division of the Chinese foreign ministry's information department.

About 20 journalists and media executives and two officers of the ASEAN Secretariat have been invited to participate in the media program in China from August 30 to September 6.

On Monday, September 1, they met with Chinese journalists and academics for a discussion on challenges in operating a news website and cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in the field of "E-public diplomacy."

Balancing interests

Pan Jian, deputy chief editor of People.cn, the first Chinese news website to go public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, said that while they still need to do a lot to "bridge the gap with the people," they also have to think about returns to their investors by "developing new forms of media" and "setting up media groups that enjoy considerable influence."

The day after People.cn enlisted in the stock exchange, its stock price rose to 106%, about twice the stock price of the New York Times, Pan said.

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China sees growing clout of new media