Central Government Expands Broadcast Coverage in Minority Areas

November 1, 2006

The Chinese central government plans to provide all of the country's villages with radio and television access by the end of 2010, according to an August 12 report in the Chinese Minorities News.

The Chinese central government plans to provide all of the country's villages with radio and television access by the end of 2010, according to an August 12 report in the Chinese Minorities News. The report notes that expanding broadcast access brings "positive social results and ensures that the Party and government's voice enters into every household." More than 400,000 small villages, primarily in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, remain without access to radio or television. The central government has invested more than 1.75 billion yuan since 1998 to increase broadcast accessibility in poor areas, and since July 2000 has developed special programs to expand broadcast coverage specifically in the Xinjiang Uighur and Tibet Autonomous Regions, and border areas. Broadcast coverage has been expanded to 70 million additional villagers since 1998, according to the report, raising the percentage of Chinese citizens with access to radio and television from 88.3 and 89 percent respectively in 1998 to 93.7 and 94.7 percent in 2003.