<P> The Xinhua headquarters is located in Beijing, strategically located within close proximity to Zhongnanhai, which houses the headquarters of the Communist Party of China, the State Council and the office of the President of the People's Republic of China...The Xinhua News Agency established its first overseas affiliate in 1947 in London, with Samuel Chinque as publisher . Now it distributes its news in Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Africa through more than 150 affiliates, with regional headquarters in Hong Kong, Moscow, Cairo, Brussels, New York City, Mexico City and Nairobi, plus a United Nations bureau . </P> <P> Xinhua's branch in Hong Kong was not just a press office, but served as the de facto embassy of the PRC in the territory when it was under British administration . It was named a news agency under the special historic conditions before the territory's sovereignty was transferred from Britain to China, because the People's Republic did not recognise British sovereignty over the colony, and could not set up a consulate on what it considered to be its soil . </P> <P> Despite its unofficial status, the directors of the Xinhua Hong Kong Branch included high - ranking former diplomats such as Zhou Nan, former Ambassador to the United Nations and Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, who later negotiated the Sino - British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong . His predecessor, Xu Jiatun, was also vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee, before fleeing to the United States in response to the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests, where he went into exile . </P> <P> It was authorized by the special administrative region government to continue to represent the central government after 1997, and it was renamed "The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR" on January 18, 2000, retaining branch chief Jiang Enzhu as inaugural director . The State Council appointed Gao Siren (高祀仁) as the director in August 2002 . After the Liaison Office was established, Xinhua Agency was reconstituted as a bona fide press office . </P>

Xinhua is the leading integrated news agency out of taiwan