A procurement document from Beijing’s municipal propaganda office offered a rare glimpse last month into how China tracks global media coverage to shape its international outreach and identify partnership opportunities. The contract, awarded to a subsidiary of the nationalistic tabloid Global Times — which is published by the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily — calls for monitoring more than 100 foreign outlets across eight languages.

According to the terms listed in the document, which was published on January 30 on Beijing’s public resources trading platform, the Global Times subsidiary, Global Times Online (Beijing) Culture and Media Co., Ltd., will provide Beijing’s propaganda office with no fewer than 274 reports analyzing how international media cover the capital city’s politics, economy, society, culture, and environment. Coverage will span major outlets across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with monitoring in English, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian.

Global Times Online (Beijing) is more than 70 percent controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily through direct and indirect holdings — presenting an interesting case in how China’s propaganda apparatus operates through formal contracting relationships within the party-state media system. Beijing, which has provincial-level administrative status, has in this case awarded the contract to the subsidiary of a central party media organization under the Central Propaganda Department.

The contract’s official title — “Promoting China-Foreign Media Exchange and Cooperation” (推动中外媒体交流合作) — describes the broader framework under which China’s official media organizations facilitate joint reporting projects, media forums, and journalist training programs with foreign outlets. The reports resulting from the media monitoring contract are likely meant to inform the capital city’s global communication and media outreach strategy.

According to the document, the contract was awarded to Global Times Online with a score of 87.93 out of 100 points — though no information was made public about competitors.