Central News Agency (Taiwan)

The Central News Agency (CNA) is Taiwan's semi-official wire service.

In addition to its Chinese language edition, it also has English and Japanese editions. It has a 300-strong employee base, and overseas branches in some 30 countries. It works with a number of well-known news agencies around the world, such as the Associated Press, Reuters, Deutsche Welle, and Agence France-Presse.

History
The CNA agency was founded April 1, 1924, by the Kuomintang party. Its headquarters was originally located in Guangzhou in Guangdong province, but had to be relocated to Taipei in 1949, following the defeat of the Republic of China government in mainland China in the Chinese Civil War.

Despite the corporatisation of the agency in 1973, it continued to receive heavy government subsidies, and remained the nation's official agency. At the time, CNA journalists received preferential treatment on various occasions, mostly government-related press conferences.

After democratization, on 1 July 1996, the agency became a non-profit organisation under a bill passed by the Legislative Yuan. As of 2022, it is still Taiwan's official news agency, and received part of its funding from the Executive Yuan. However, its media influence is said to have diminished due to a rise in competition after the government decided to lift restrictions on mass media.

English version website is Focus Taiwan. A Spanish language edition, Enfoque en Taiwán, was closed 31 March 2021. In August 2021, CNA oversaw the launch of the TaiwanPlus streaming platform. In July 2024, an Indonesian language version of CNA's website was released, with articles translated from Chinese and English via artificial intelligence and a team of Indonesian-speaking editors.