Hungarian state-owned news channel M1 has launched a Chinese-language news program. The new program was announced via Facebook by the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA) on Jan. 5.　

According to the announcement, MTVA justified the launch of the news program by stressing the importance of China’s role as a strategic partner of Hungary. The fund noted that Chinese nationals living and working in Hungary should be able to receive news on Hungarian political and economic matters “firsthand.”

The Chinese-language news bulletin will be broadcast daily in the late night hours, following the recently launched Russian-language service. It will have a roughly five-minute time slot between 11:45 p.m. and midnight each day.

There are three announcers, all of who are ethnically Chinese. Ma Ying, one of the announcers, declared the initiative very sensible, given the sizable Chinese community living in Hungary.