Beyond censorship: China’s growing influence on Thailand’s media

China has steadily cultivated closer ties with Thailand, rivallingthe United States as one of Bangkok's most influential partners. This deepening relationship may be detrimental to Thailand, however, as some of the country's journalists expressed their concern to RSF that Beijing's tightening grip on their media landscape may be turning the Southeast Asian nation into "a Chinese vassal state."

The Chinese embassy: a main source of pressure

On 3 November 2023, the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) aired an interview with Jaushieh Joseph Wu, who was Taiwan's foreign minister at the time. Shortly after the interview was broadcast - excerpts were shown on television and the full interview made available online - the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok published a statement accusing the broadcaster of providing a platform for "Taiwan independence separatists." The embassy claimed the interview had "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" and accused the broadcaster of "abusing" press freedom.

According to someone familiar with the case who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, the Chinese Embassy arranged a meeting with the broadcaster's executives. An agreement was reached to remove the full interview from the broadcaster's online platforms approximately one week after its publication; the television report was not affected. The removal took place without any public explanation from the broadcaster, raising concerns among journalists and media observers about the impact of Chinese diplomatic pressure on editorial independence in Thailand. At the time of writing, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand and Thai PBS had not replied to RSF's requests for comment.

This pressure from the Chinese embassy is not unique to Thai PBS, or even Thailand, as Chinese embassies are a key vehicle for the CCP's media influence operations worldwide. Many of the Thai news professionals who spoke to RSF described Chinese diplomats confronting individual reporters over coverage deemed sensitive by Beijing. In one notable case from 2022, a Thai journalist was confronted about his reporting on the persecution of the Uyghur minority in China by several staff members from the Chinese embassy in Bangkok during a diplomatic reception. One embassy staff member warned that the journalist's publication would no longer be granted access to interviews with the Chinese ambassador.

Since then, the embassy's efforts to control portrayals of China in Thailand have become increasingly overt. In August 2025, for example, embassy officials intervened in an art exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, pressuring organisers to remove artworks related to Hong Kong, Tibet and East Turkestan (a Chinese territory also known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) and censor the text on the exhibition labels. The British news agency Reuters reported on the incident, but few Thai media outlets followed up on the story. When one of the few exceptions, news site Khaosod English, published an opinion piece by journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk on the censorship of the exhibit, the Chinese embassy's counsellor for media affairs visited Khaosod English's offiice and, according to the journalist, told him that Beijing's One China policy, which was questioned by the exhibition, was not open to challenge.

Influencing the Thai media landscape through media partnerships and propaganda press trips

Pravit Rojanaphruk told RSF that this kind of pressure from China could encourage self-censorship within Thai newsrooms. "When journalists see their editors regularly going on trips to China, they naturally become more cautious themselves," he said.

Teeranai Charuvastra, former vice president of the Thai Journalists Association, wrote that Chinese government entities have sponsored numerous trips to China for members of the Thai media. Reporters have been invited to interview senior officials, tour the locations of government initiatives, such as poverty alleviation programs, and publish stories about them. A Thai reporter who participated in one of these trips to visit infrastructure projects in China told RSF that participants were largely presented with a one-sided account, such as narratives highlighting how China's Mekong River projects and the China-Laos Railway have helped alleviate poverty. These trips are evolving: Xinhua shared that in 2026, the Thai-Chinese Journalists Association invited Thai media professionals to China to learn about AI applications and new formats for content production.

Meanwhile, Chinese state-controlled media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency, China Radio International (CRI) and China Global Television Network (CGTN), have significantly expanded their production of Thai-language news content. These outlets have also secured content-sharing agreements with a range of Thai media organisations, including the public broadcaster and mainstream publications. By the end of 2019, at least twelve Thai-language media platforms had reached content-sharing agreements with Xinhua. Thailand's Government Public Relations Department (PRD) has also maintained multiple cooperation agreements directly with Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group.

Thai journalism impoverished and vulnerable

According to Radio Free Asia, in 2024 alone, more than 300 Thai news organisations reportedly laid off staff, leading the Thai Journalists Association to label it "a year of hardship." The worsening financial situation has raised concerns about news outlets' ability to maintain editorial independence. According to a Thai journalist who requested anonymity, several reporters from mainstream Thai television outlets have since taken positions with Chinese media organisations.

Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), told RSF that if the economics of Thai journalism does not fundamentally change, dependence on content from Chinese state-controlled outlets is likely to grow, while the space for critical, independent coverage of China-related issues will continue to shrink.

Thailand ranks 92nd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index, down seven places from 2025. China remains the world's largest jailer of journalists, with 121 currently detained, and ranks 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the Index.