By Frank Ching

On the home page of the website of a major news agency, there are videos about all kinds of news stories ― a plane crash, babies who died because of greedy and unethical manufacturers of milk formula and the Dalai Lama denouncing the Chinese government for "distorting information."

Not surprising, perhaps, for websites of regular news organizations, but this is no ordinary news organization. This is the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government news service and the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

All of these stories are politically sensitive. The crash was that of a North Korean plane in China. The tainted milk powder was manufactured by Sanlu Group, a state-owned dairy products company.

And the Dalai Lama, of course, is someone whose name is never mentioned in the Chinese media except when he is denounced as a "splittist" who wants Tibet to be separated from China, even though the Tibetan spiritual leader maintains that all he wants is genuine autonomy.

What is going on here? China, it turns out, wants to increase its soft power by having Xinhua compete with news organizations like CNN and the BBC and is hiring a large number of western journalists.

In fact, the government is pouring money into this effort. Xinhua is planning to move into the top floor of a high-rise in the middle of Times Square in New York.

Beijing is planning to beam its news and views to 100 countries and, in the words of Xinhua's president, Li Congjun, breaking the "monopoly and verbal hegemony of the West." This, he said, was a mission that the Communist Party has entrusted to Xinhua.

International news currently accounts for about 70 percent of Xinhua's 24-hour English-language channel, CNC World, which was launched in July to be China's voice in the world.

But the real test for Xinhua will not be its coverage of international news, but rather its coverage of China, in particular, of Chinese politics.

After all, CNC World can cover the whole world without fear or favor but, will the Communist Party allow it to cover sensitive political issues in China? Most viewers, presumably, will want to watch its programs for what they can learn about China.

One example of how CNC World currently soft-pedals sensitive political news was its coverage of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, a political dissident serving an 11-year prison term.

CNC World did not report the news. What it did was report the Chinese Foreign Ministry's criticism of the award, which was termed a "blasphemy."

There are plenty of stories in China to report and, of course, Xinhua will have to pick and choose like any news organization to decide what to highlight.

But if Xinhua chooses to focus on reporting positive stories and ignore negative ones, it will pretty quickly lose credibility.

July 1, the day when CNC World was created, was also the day when new regulations barring the use of confessions extracted through torture came into effect. Those regulations were promulgated by organizations involved in the criminal justice system, including the Supreme People's Court.

This was a positive story that should have improved China's image. However, the story took a decidedly negative turn when the court, in handling the first such case after the new regulations came into effect, blithely disregarded them and approved the execution of Fan Qihang in Chongqing despite strong indications that he had been tortured into confessing.

It would be great if Xinhua can assign reporters to find out why the court had disregarded its own regulations.

And Xinhua should also report why Wang Shengjun, who is not a distinguished jurist and, indeed, does not have any formal legal training, was appointed to head the country's highest court in 2008. At least his predecessor, Xiao Yang, was a respected lawyer who had served as minister of justice.

If CNC World is to contribute to international understanding of China, it should dig into such stories and explain to viewers around the world just what happened, and why. Its reporters should follow a story no matter where it leads.

After all, that is what one would hope, and expect, from CNN and the BBC. If Xinhua cannot do this, then CNC World cannot possibly achieve its mission.

The Chinese voice in the world will be simply dismissed as so much propaganda. And China will simply be pouring money down a bottomless pit.

Frank Ching is a journalist and commentator in Hong Kong. He can be reached at Frank.ching@gmail.com.