Category: Media
How Effective are China’s Press Junkets for African Journalists? Pretty Effective.
As China opens back up after the pandemic, journalists are again being flown in from across the Global South for junkets - a key form of influence-building for Beijing. If you wondered whether these tours pay off in soft power, tweets like these from ...
Mechanisms for ‘Telling Chinese Stories Well’: Chinese Influence on Foreign Media
By James Sundquist The “Rise of China” is one of the great stories of this century. But how is this story told? Is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) about South-South cooperation or debt-trap diplomacy? How much attention should be paid ...
Chinese Official Dismisses Reports of Xi Trip to Saudi Arabia as “Gossip”
While Twitter was abuzz with speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping would travel to Saudi Arabia this week based on a story in The Guardian, Wang Cheng, a highly-respected and normally very reliable Commerce Ministry dismissed the idea as nothing more than "gossip." Wang ...
Many Chinese Netizens Are Framing the Blinken Visit and the New U.S. Strategy in the Context of Great Power Competition
The Blinken visit to Africa and the unveiling of the new U.S. strategy for the continent were not widely covered by Chinese media on Monday but a few online commentators, some with sizable audiences, offered their opinions. Most echoed the prevailing ...
On Pelosi’s Visit, China’s Messaging Machine is Targeting the Global South
China mobilized its entire global messaging machine to protest U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recently concluded visit to Taiwan. Angry reactions have shown up in newspapers across the Global South, from Brazil to Congo to Oman and beyond. While the Global ...
No, Nigeria Didn’t Ship 7,000 Human Penises to China
Nigerian social media is aflame with a rumor that a container of human penises was sent to China from the West African country. The rumor originated last year. It caused consternation in the Nigerian parliament before it was revealed to be based ...
Global South Media Reactions to Nancy Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan
Congo: On August 2, Jean-Claude Gakosso, the foreign minister of the Republic of Congo, said that adhering to the one China principle is the consistent policy of the Democratic People's Republic of Congo, the general consensus of the Congolese government and all Congolese people, and there is ...
It’s the West’s Fault, Not Russia’s There Are Food Shortages in Africa, According to Chinese State Media
Chinese state media is promoting the narrative that the worsening food crisis in Africa is due to Western sanctions against Russia rather than because Moscow invaded a sovereign country. CGTN published a short clip on Tuesday of an ...
African Exploitation Videos Are Big Business on Chinese Social Media
The recent BBC documentary "Racism for Sale" pointed a powerful spotlight on the popular Chinese "blessing video" business that is both highly exploitative and very profitable. These videos feature Africans and people from other developing regions, often ...
Chinese Netizens Aren’t Keen to Bail Out Sri Lanka
While international calls grow louder for China to restructure Sri Lanka's debt obligations, a very different conversation is going on in Chinese media and online communities. Antara Ghosal Singh, an expert on Chinese domestic development and a fellow at the New ...
Two Southeast Asian States Stand Out in Pew’s Latest U.S. vs. China Public Opinion Survey
Singapore and Malaysia stood apart in Pew Research's latest public opinion poll that surveyed 25,000 respondents in 19 middle and high-income countries about their perceptions of China and the United States. While public views of China in other wealthy countries were solidly negative, two-thirds ...
China’s Discourse Power in Africa and the Global South
China, like all major governments, uses a variety of tools and methods to influence international public opinion. Some, like CGTN, China Daily, and China Radio International, serve as conventional propaganda that is easy to identify; other tactics are far more subtle ...