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China’s ambitious project to provide digital TV access to 10,000 remote villages in 23 African countries is nearing completion, with over 9,600 villages already connected. The initiative, promised by Chinese President Xi Jinping almost nine years ago, is officially framed as bridging the information gap in Africa, although some critics see it as a strategic move to expand Beijing’s influence on the continent.
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Window to the world: The “10,000 Villages Project,” implemented by Chinese company StarTimes, is providing access to a diverse range of Chinese content, including news, sports and entertainment dubbed into the region’s local languages. For many of the remote communities, this is their first reliable television experience and a significant connection to the outside world.
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Mixed feedback: Many viewers express their preference for local news channels, with some complaining that the Chinese content was stereotypical. Others have expressed concerns about the cost of subscriptions after the initial free trial. Dr. Dani Madrid-Morales, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, pointed out that the project’s image-building effect for China has been limited. “There was an attempt for the government to rebalance the information flow that would put China under a positive light, but that has not materialized,” he told the BBC. “The amount of money that has gone into this hasn’t really benefited the Chinese government all that much.”
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