China has confirmed plans to merge its state television and radio stations to create a new broadcaster that will be one of the largest propaganda platforms in the world.

Chinese state media reported the merger of China Central Television (CCTV), China Radio International and China National Radio under a single network to be named Voice of China.

The goal of the new platform will be to “guide hot social issues, strengthen and improve public opinion, push multimedia integration, strengthen international communication and tell good China stories,” according to a notice published by Xinhua, China’s official news agency, on Wednesday.

The announcement comes as the Chinese president, Xi Jinping – who was unanimously elected to a second term at the weekend after pushing through changes to the constitution to remove term limits – takes tighter control over the government.

Xi, in power as head of the Chinese Communist party since 2012, has overseen one of China’s harshest crackdowns on dissent in decades, both among the public and within his own party.

“I think this reflects Xi Jinping’s approach of increasing centralisation and party control so that the Chinese government can project its views globally more effectively and without variation,” said Steve Tsang, director of the Soas China Institute in London.

The new broadcaster’s name echoes that of its US counterpart, Voice of America, the government-funded broadcaster established during the second world war and used throughout the cold war to promote American viewpoints around the world.

In a speech heavy with nationalist language at the close of the National People’s Congress, the country’s annual parliament, on Tuesday, Xi vowed China would “take our due place in the world”.

China has been working not only to project a more positive image abroad but to compete with western media in global news coverage. In 2016, CCTV rebranded its international operations as China Global Television Network, with bureaux from Nairobi to Washington. It broadcasts from more than 70 countries, while China Radio International broadcasts in more than 60 languages through affiliates around the world.

As part of its soft-power push, China has also established more than 500 language centres, better known as Confucius Institutes, to promote Chinese culture globally.

The merger is part of a broader government overhaul – China’s largest in years – bringing more ministries and regulators under closer control by the party.

As part of the reshuffle, regulation of news, film and publishing will now come under the party’s publicity department, a sign of increasing media control and scrutiny of news and online content. Xi has previously called on the country’s state media to pledge absolute loyalty to the party.

The new broadcaster’s goal will also be to “publicise party theory, guidelines and policies,” according to Xinhua.

“It will in effect be the Voice of the Chinese Communist party as Xi Jinping would like it to be,” Tsang said.