CNS also has news offices in foreign countries, including the United States, Japan, France, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia.

"[10] In 1990, CNS personnel were dispatched to the U.S. to found SinoVision and The China Press to counter negative perceptions of the Chinese government following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

The editorial was widely criticized both within China and internationally for referring to the Chinese American ambassador as a banana which was interpreted as a racial slur.

[15][16] In 2017, a former editor-in-chief and Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of CNS until February 2015, Liu Beixian, was charged with taking bribes during the anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping and expelled from the CCP.

[20][21][22] According to NPR and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, CNS was involved in targeted disinformation and propaganda campaigns during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.

[23] According to a 2020 investigation by ProPublica, CNS hired a third-party firm to create fake Twitter accounts to spread conspiracy theories and disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the 1950s onwards, numerous documentaries and operas, including "North and South of Taishan", "Heroes of Qilu", "Sisters Get Married Easily" and "The Pearl Pagoda", were produced and distributed in Hong Kong, Macau and overseas.

Since its establishment in 2010, the department has been involved in the coverage of major events such as the "Two Sessions", the 2010 Yushu earthquake, Expo 2010, the 2010 Gansu mudslide, the 2010 Asian Games, and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

According to scholars Filip Jirouš and Petra Ševčíková, "CNS's activity lies at the symbiotic intersection of propaganda and united front work."