BEIJING - CHINA'S second national English-language daily newspaper hit the streets on Monday, a key step in a government drive to push its message abroad as papers in the West struggle to survive.

An English edition of the 'Global Times', published by the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, was launched in print and online.

'For China, the new English edition is one more channel to deliver its voice to the world,' the paper said in its inaugural editorial. 'The English edition will be a vital new medium affording international readers the opportunity to discover and understand China, while allowing Chinese to express themselves to the world.'

The publication of the newspaper comes amid an enormous Chinese media expansion that Hong Kong's South China Morning Most this year said was costing 45 billion yuan (S$9.9 billion).

Although the government has refused to confirm such funding, Chinese officials have acknowledged efforts to expand the voice of the state media to overseas markets and 'positively influence international public opinion'.

China's communist rulers, who often criticise Western media coverage of their actions as biased, are looking for ways to have their views presented more around the world.

However strict controls remain in place on China's traditional media, and ensure views different to the government's on many sensitive issues, such as Tibet, Taiwan, the 1989 Tiananmen protests and human rights, go unpublished.

Since 1993, the People's Daily has published a Chinese language version of the Global Times that mainly focuses on international news.

The China Daily, which began publication in 1981, is the nation's other English-language newspaper. It recently expanded its reach overseas with the launch of a US edition.

Also as part of the global drive, broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) is preparing to start new channels in Russian and Arabic this year, station staff have said. -- AFP