The company relocates its principal office, raising questions about Beijing’s expanding media footprint in the city
A Move That Says More Than It Shows
Xinhua News Media Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed company connected to China’s official state news agency Xinhua, has relocated its principal office in Hong Kong to COSCO Tower – a commercial building in Sheung Wan owned by China Ocean Shipping Company, itself a major state-owned enterprise of the People’s Republic of China. On the surface, it is a routine business announcement: a company moves offices. In the context of Hong Kong’s transformed media landscape, it is anything but routine. The relocation of a Xinhua-affiliated entity to a building owned by a Chinese state enterprise is a visible marker of how deeply Beijing-aligned institutions have embedded themselves into Hong Kong’s physical and commercial fabric since the 2020 national security law dismantled the city’s independent press.
Understanding the Xinhua Presence in Hong Kong
The history of Xinhua in Hong Kong is long and complicated. The Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch, established in 1947, functioned for decades as the Communist Party’s de facto embassy in the British colony – conducting party business under the cover of a news agency name because Beijing and London could not agree on official diplomatic terms. After the 1997 handover, the branch was renamed the Hong Kong Liaison Office. The “Little Xinhua” – the actual news-gathering branch – became the Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Bureau and has continued operating as a state news outlet ever since. Xinhua News Media Holdings, the listed entity, operates across media, content, and information services with a Hong Kong listing that gives it access to international capital markets.
What the Move Signals
COSCO Tower, located at 183 Queen’s Road Central in Sheung Wan, is owned by COSCO Pacific, a subsidiary of China COSCO Holdings – one of China’s largest state-owned shipping and port conglomerates. The building is a premium commercial address that has become home to a growing number of mainland-affiliated companies operating in Hong Kong. The choice of a state-owned building as a headquarters for a state media-affiliated entity reinforces the broader pattern of Beijing-aligned institutions clustering together in Hong Kong’s commercial real estate, deepening their integration with the city’s business infrastructure. Reporters Without Borders has documented how state media organisations have expanded their footprint in Hong Kong since 2020, filling space vacated by independent outlets like Apple Daily and Stand News that were shut down under the national security law.
The Collapse of Independent Media
The relocation of Xinhua News Media to COSCO Tower occurs in a media landscape unrecognisable from a decade ago. Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s most widely read pro-democracy tabloid, was forced to close in June 2021 after its assets were frozen and its editors arrested. Stand News, an online independent outlet, was raided and shut down in December 2021. Citizen News closed voluntarily in January 2022. The Committee to Protect Journalists described these closures as the most dramatic collapse of press freedom in Asia in a generation. The Committee to Protect Journalists has placed Hong Kong among the world’s most challenging environments for journalism. Reporters Without Borders ranked Hong Kong 140th out of 180 countries in press freedom in 2024 – down from 18th in 2002.
State Media Fills the Vacuum
Into the space left by independent journalism, Beijing’s state media has expanded. Xinhua, People’s Daily, China Daily, and CCTV all maintain significant operations in Hong Kong. Their editorial lines consistently defend the government’s prosecution of democracy activists, describe the national security law as necessary for stability, and frame international criticism of Hong Kong’s political situation as foreign interference. For residents of Hong Kong seeking independent reporting on their own city, options have narrowed dramatically. Hong Kong Free Press remains one of the few English-language independent outlets still reporting from within the city, operating on a nonprofit model funded by reader donations.
The Significance of the Address
COSCO Tower is not just a building – it is a symbol. COSCO, the shipping company that owns it, has been central to debates about Chinese state influence over global port infrastructure, including the Panama Canal controversy. That a state-media-affiliated company is now headquartered in a state-enterprise-owned building in a city once known for press freedom and independent institutions is a data point that observers of Hong Kong’s political transformation will note carefully. The question is no longer whether Beijing-aligned institutions are expanding in Hong Kong. They are. The question is what, if anything, remains of the independent institutional fabric that once made Hong Kong worth watching.
The Broader Pattern
Xinhua News Media’s move to COSCO Tower is part of a recognisable pattern. Since 2020, Beijing-aligned institutions – state media outlets, pro-Beijing think tanks, mainland-funded NGOs, and entities connected to China’s state-owned enterprise sector – have expanded their footprint in Hong Kong’s commercial, cultural, and civic spaces. At the same time, independent institutions have closed or been driven out. The Bar Association, once a reliable voice on rule-of-law issues, has been intimidated into silence. The Law Society has faced political pressure. The major universities have removed academic staff who expressed pro-democracy views. Into this landscape, Xinhua News Media’s relocation to a building owned by a state shipping enterprise is a quiet but telling detail. It reflects who is staying in Hong Kong, who is leaving, and who is moving into the spaces they vacate.
Why This Matters for Hong Kong’s Future
Hong Kong’s reputation as a financial centre has historically rested on a specific set of institutional commitments: independent courts, free press, rule of law, and access to reliable information. State media cannot substitute for independent journalism in building that institutional credibility. Investors, lawyers, and international businesses rely on a free press not just for news – but for the kind of accountability and transparency that makes a financial system trustworthy. PEN International has documented how the collapse of independent media in Hong Kong represents not just a human rights failure but an institutional failure with long-term economic consequences. When the only significant media presence in a financial centre is state-controlled, the information environment becomes unreliable in ways that compound over time. Xinhua will move into COSCO Tower and do its work – producing content that supports Beijing’s narrative about Hong Kong. The independent journalists who would have challenged that narrative are in prison, in exile, or have left the profession. That is the real story behind a media company changing its address.
Hoi Lam
Lifestyle, Gender & Society Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: hoilam@appledaily.uk
Hoi Lam is a lifestyle and society journalist whose work focuses on gender issues, family dynamics, and everyday social change within Chinese and diaspora communities. She completed her journalism education at a leading Chinese journalism school, where she specialized in feature writing, interview techniques, and ethical storytelling.
Her reporting career includes contributions to Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese magazines and newspapers, covering topics such as women’s rights, work-life balance, generational change, and evolving social norms. Hoi Lam’s work is grounded in firsthand interviews and contextual research, ensuring authenticity and factual integrity.
She brings newsroom experience in balancing human-interest storytelling with rigorous fact-checking and responsible framing. Her writing avoids sensationalism and prioritizes accurate representation of sources and lived experiences.
Hoi Lam’s authority is reinforced by sustained publication within reputable media outlets and compliance with editorial review and correction standards. She is trusted by editors for her careful handling of sensitive subjects and ethical clarity.
At Apple Daily UK, Hoi Lam contributes credible, experience-based journalism that documents social realities with accuracy, empathy, and professional discipline.
