“By and large, China’s international reporting is a mirror of China’s diplomacy,” said Yu Guoming, a journalism professor at People’s University in Beijing. “As government mouthpieces, their international reports are linked with the government’s diplomacy. It’s not free, so what we’re really talking about is China’s diplomacy, not its media.”

Chinese news coverage of Pakistan typically depicts the United States as the only foreign country that is a factor in Pakistan’s affairs. This is in keeping with a general tendency to depict the United States as a meddlesome power, in sharp contrast with China, which frequently proclaims that it does not interfere in the affairs of other countries, and sees to it that this line is scrupulously echoed in the news media.

“In its world coverage, the Chinese press often presents an ‘It’s none of our business, let’s watch the show’ attitude,” said Zhang Ping, a veteran editor with the Nanfang Press Corporation, one of China’s most highly regarded news companies. “This is, of course, the safest approach.”