Executives of China Daily, China Central TV (CCTV), and China Radio International (CRI) - all of which have English Language services -- as well as the online news service www.newssc.org, all had the same message for media executives and senior journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean, who were on a recent tour of the Asian country, courtesy of the State Council Information Office (SCIO).

Luo Qin, deputy director of CCTV's programme controlling office, said the network's English channel was relaunched in April as part of the company's strategy to promote its news coverage.

CRI, formerly known as Peking Radio before China decided to open up to the world, prides itself as the "Bridge to China and the World". It employs 140 people, including 30 foreigners, in its English Department, as it expands the reach to the thousands of foreigners now living and working in the world most populous country (approx 1.3 billion). The station, with the cooperation of several radio stations across the globe, operates 41 overseas channels, providing coverage to Africa, Australia, New Zealand and New York and Los Angeles in the United States, among other countries.

CRI's vice-president Wang Yunpeng told the nine Caribbean and Latin American journalists and media executives (representing Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Panama and The Bahamas that he wanted closer cooperation with their media companies in the promotion of friendship with their respective countries.

The State-owned Chinese media companies are also in an expansion mode as they roll out the Chinese message across the globe.

Kang Bing, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, which has a widely-read English Language edition, plans to expand its presence in Africa, Europe and Latin America.

The newspaper, said Kang, has the highest circulation of the three English dailies in China, with a share of 70 per cent of the market. The English edition targets foreign students and residents, as well as visitors from the West. "At least a million of the foreigners who live in China read the China Daily," he said. In addition, he said a great part of the Chinese population who are learning English turn to China Daily.

The colourful newspaper, produced in broadsheet, was recently redesigned and has a layout similar to several American newspapers. The paper gets most of its advertising support from private sector companies across China.

In the meantime, the CCTV network plans to increase the number of its bureaux from 30 to 50 as part of its international expansion. The new bureaux will be set up in North, South and Central America as well as in Asia, in which there is already a strong presence.

CCTV English - one of the news channels offered by Jamaican cable operators - is one of 38 channels offered by the Chinese television network which employs 15,000 people, among them 3,000 journalists. Twenty-two of the channels are free-to-air.

And last Thursday's launch of China's Xinhua News Agency 24-hour English news channel is the latest attempt by China's Government to give as much information about the world's fastest growing economy.

Called CNC World, the channel, according to Xinhua president Li Congjun, will present an international vision from a China perspective. "It will broadcast news reports in a timely way and objectively and be a new source of information for global audiences," Li was quoted in Xinhua's coverage of the launch.

The New York Times, in its report on the launch, said China was moving forward with a global media expansion plan while Western media outlets continued to scale back.

In the meantime, China, as part of its programme to move the country to first world status, has been wooing talented Chinese living overseas back to their homeland under its '1,000-elite Programme'.

The more than 600 people who have already signed up include Li Dongsheng, who left his job as a senior technical director at Airbus SAS last September and returned home. According to a recent China Daily report, Li, 45, is now the chief assistant of model design for the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China and the deputy chief of the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute.

China Daily said the recruits have all been given lead positions in various research institutes, top laboratories of State-owned enterprises. Each has received one million yuan (US$146,000) from the central government, as well as funding from their employers. In addition, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced recently that it would be allocating 10 million yuan to each talent recruited.