China has turned over to Timor-Leste the transmission system for terrestrial broadcasts there of digital television, ANTIL reports, citing the Timorese Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication.

The ministry says the broadcasts will reach an audience of over 200,000 to begin with, according to the Timorese state-run news agency.

China will keep giving technical help so the high-definition broadcasts can reach the whole nation by 2023, ANTIL quotes the ministry as saying.

Separately, a Facebook post by the Chinese Embassy in Dili quotes Chinese Ambassador to Timor-Leste Xiao Jianguo as saying the digital television network will carry 22 channels, among them mainland Chinese and Macao channels.

The network will drive the development in Timor-Leste of a digital television industry of its own, and inform Timorese about China and the rest of the outside world, his embassy quotes Mr Xiao as saying at the formal turnover on Monday.