Category: Soft Power

In December 2021, the U.S. confirmed that President Joe Biden will boycott the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February. But already before the end of November, China had signaled it was working towards lessening the public diplomacy fallout of such gestures. As part of the ...

China's campaign to build critical government infrastructure in Africa (aka "Building Diplomacy") marked another accomplishment on Sunday when Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who also happens to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, commissioned the new National Defense College in Dar es Salaam.

China's newly arrived ambassador to Somalia, Fei Shengchao, visited the broadcasting facilities of Radio Mogadishu and the Somali National Television last week and promised to help the government-run broadcasters to upgrade their outdated equipment. 

Wang Yang, a member of China's powerful Politburo and president of the country's rubber-stamp legislature, held separate meetings with legislative leaders from both sides of the Congo river. In Beijing, Wang held talks with Edouard Mokolo Wa Mpombo, first ...

Students from 36 different African countries gathered in Beijing on Sunday to take part in the first-ever African students' forum organized by the China-Africa Institute with the support of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one of the country's leading public policy think tanks. ...

By Dr. Álvaro Mendez, Co-Director & Senior Associate Fellow, Global South Unit at LSE IDEAS In early 2021, Beijing launched a diplomatic campaign to promote China’s COVID-19 vaccines with the aim of winning friends and cutting deals in ...

It is very difficult, if not impossible, right now to accurately public opinion perceptions of China in a region as large and diverse as Africa. There are strong indications that point in opposite directions. African leaders one after another shower China ...

China's successful track record in eliminating extreme poverty over the past several decades is emerging as a potent soft power diplomacy initiative in its relations with African countries. China now regularly touts its poverty eradication efforts in its official propaganda 

China's approach to soft power diplomacy in Africa differs markedly from that of other major powers, namely the United States, France and the UK. While those countries rely heavily on cultural products like movies and music to promote their cultures, China uses glamor shots of beautiful new ...

Senegalese President Macky Sall took to Twitter yesterday to express his gratitude to his "friend President Xi Jinping" for the donation of 300,000 COVID-19 vaccines and 300,000 syringes that landed in Dakar this week.  The tweet provides the latest ...

Beijing's top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, announced on Twitter yesterday that the Chinese government will build a China-themed library at the University of Nairobi. The university is already home to a Confucius Institute. Wu added that he ...

As an outfit tracking the Africa-China aspect of COVID-19 since its outbreak, we were aware from early on that the pandemic has laid down a new track in a global geopolitical race. So it’s very interesting to see more commentators in the Global North slowly waking up ...