Category: Soft Power
Why China’s Vaccine Outreach in Africa May Not Produce the Soft Power Dividends Many Assume
There's growing anxiety in many Western capitals that China's head start in distributing vaccines to African countries will provide Beijing with a powerful diplomatic advantage. While there's no doubt that China's vaccine donations are well received on the continent, a trio of Africa analysts at the UK-based ...
Washington’s Former Top Diplomat For Africa: “China’s Kicking Our Tails Everywhere”
Tibor Nagy, the top U.S. diplomat for Sub-Saharan Africa under ex-President Trump, re-surfaced for the first time since he left Washington in January. Nagy published a column in a local Texas newspaper calling on the current U.S. administration to do more to stop China's rising influence in ...
China is Absolutely Destroying the Competition in the Global Battle Over Vaccine Optics
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the latest head of state to take part in what's become a very effective Chinese propaganda campaign by rolling up his sleeve for a high-profile injection of a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccination. Last week,
Yes, of Course, China’s Using Vaccines to Boost Its Soft Power
A lot of people in the U.S. and Europe are really struggling to get their heads around the implications of China's increasingly successful vaccine distribution push in the developing world. On the one hand, there's often (but not always) a begrudging ...
China’s Polling Ahead of Other Countries For Its COVID-19 Aid, But Beijing Still May Not Get the Soft Power Win It Desires
A new public opinion survey in Southeast Asia provides an indication that residents in some developing countries acknowledge China's considerable contributions in helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, while still feeling ambivalent about Beijing's motivations, according to the findings of a new poll conducted ...
Jack Ma’s Disappearance Is a Setback For Chinese Soft Power in Africa
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in Africa at the moment. It has become a multi-decade tradition that the FM's first foreign trip of the year is always to Africa. These trips are arguably less important for what they achieve (although announcements of new deals frequently follow) ...
New Chinese Drama Series and Documentaries Now on Chadian National TV
Beginning today, television audiences in Chad will be able to watch new Chinese drama series and documentaries nationally on Electron TV. The Chinese embassy in N'Djamena invited Chadians to tune in and watch the shows to "get to ...
Upcoming China-Africa Media Forum Highlights a Key Component of China’s Soft Power Diplomacy
The Chinese and Kenyan governments will hold a media conference next week in Nairobi that's part of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) action plan. While a lot of U.S. and European observers dismiss these kinds of events as mere propaganda exercises, they're often enthusiastically embraced by ...
With a Golden Boot on Her Foot, Barbara Banda Returns Home From China as a Star
20-year old Women's Chinese League sensation Barbara Banda returned home to Zambia last week where she was greeted as a genuine star after winning the Golden Boot, the league's most valuable player award. Banda trained with the Lusaka Dynamos Ladies FC as ...
China’s Rebuilding of TV Stations in Africa is a Great Way of Ensuring Long-term Positive Media Coverage
China's ambassador to Liberia, Ren Yisheng, toured the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) facility in Monrovia last week to inspect a $52 million upgrade to the channel that Beijing is funding. Part of the work being done is to facilitate LBS' transition from analog to digital ...