Soon after the conclusion of the Europe-Africa Summit in Brussels last week, Chinese media and scholars began to weigh in with their analysis of the gathering which, not surprisingly, was decidedly negative.
All week, there’ve been a number of stories published across various Chinese media outlets that all have a similar theme: the only reason Europe is focusing attention on Africa now is just to confront China.
These are the same kinds of stories that Chinese stakeholders publish about the U.S. in Africa as well with the same message that any Western engagement on the continent should be viewed suspiciously but China’s motivations in Africa are noble and pure.
In this latest story published on the popular nationalist news site Observer (观察), the editor turns China’s normally suspicious view of Western media on its head and cherry-picked U.S. and European news reports that appear to cast doubt on how Europe will pay for the €150 billion in development financing that it pledged for Africa.
By taking one or two lines out of context from publications like Politico, Handelsblatt and the Financial Times among other publications, the intention here is to suggest that “it’s not us who’s saying this is bad, it’s them.”
How Chinese Media Selectively Uses Western Media to Frame Its Own Narrative on the EU-Africa Summit:
- MEME #1: EUROPE IS ONLY GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT AFRICA BECAUSE OF CHINA — “The British Financial Times pointed out that the trade volume between China and Africa has continued to grow in the past two decades, reaching $176 billion in 2020. By contrast, EU-Africa trade, at $225 billion, has barely grown over the past decade. China’s progress in consolidating trade and investment has clearly caused anxiety in the EU.”
- MEME #2: DON’T TAKE EUROPE SERIOUSLY ON VACCINES: “The British “Independent” mentioned that a coalition of more than 100 non-governmental organizations recently released a report criticizing the European Union for only selling vaccines to rich countries at high prices, while exports to the African continent only accounted for 8% of its total vaccine exports.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a rather ironic point for a Chinese nationalist media outlet to be making given that China’s total vaccine distributions to African countries amount to just 9% of its worldwide shipments, according to the Beijing-based Bridge consulting firm that tracks Chinese vaccine distribution around the world.
This media formula also includes one final element that is very common in these types of articles where the editor concludes by drawing on an African outlet, usually a state-controlled publication, that invariably praises China’s contributions to development on the continent.
In this case, the editor went to Egypt where there is rarely any public criticism of China and quoted Jabala, “a well-known columnist,” who said “China is actually working for the welfare of Africans and making more and more contributions to Africa’s development.”
