After years of courting Beijing, Mr Rupert Murdoch has won his reward - a meeting with President Jiang Zemin and a promise of further profitable agreements with China.
President Jiang "expressed appreciation for the efforts made by world media mogul Rupert Murdoch in presenting China objectively and co-operating with the Chinese press over the past two years" when they met on Thursday, according to the official news agency, Xinhua.
The two appeared shaking hands on the front page of China Daily. The chairman and chief executive of News Corp began wooing China four years ago by dropping the BBC - unpopular with the Communist leaders - from his Asian satellite station STAR TV.
This year he ordered HarperCollins, which he controls, not to publish a book critical of Chinese officials by former Hong Kong governor Mr Chris Patten. At the time Mr Murdoch said: "We are trying to get set up in China. Why should we upset them? Let somebody else upset them."
The News Corp chairman has made up the ground he lost in 1993 when he angered Beijing by saying satellite television posed an "unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere". Xinhua said Mr Murdoch "expressed his admiration for China's tremendous achievements in every respect over the past two decades," and was "willing to further enhance friendly co-operation to present the world with a better understanding of China."
Later, Mr Murdoch said he was "optimistic about the scope for co-operation with Chinese media industry partners." News Corp's business interests in China include its 100 per cent-owned STAR TV, and a STAR TV joint venture, Phoenix Satellite TV. In addition, it has a joint venture with the official People's Daily, producing an Internet service.