China Says It Needs To Strengthen Global Propaganda Efforts To Help Foreigners Understand Chinese Communist Party

US media report­ed last month that China’s Pres­i­dent Xi Jin­ping said the coun­try must improve its glob­al pro­pa­gan­da efforts to help for­eign­ers under­stand the Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty. Accord­ing to a Reuters arti­cle:

June 2, 2021 Chi­na Pres­i­dent Xi Jin­ping said the coun­try must improve the way it tells its “sto­ries” to a glob­al audi­ence as it seeks to devel­op an inter­na­tion­al voice that reflects its sta­tus on the world stage, offi­cial news agency Xin­hua report­ed.  Speak­ing at a Com­mu­nist Par­ty study meet­ing, Xi said it was cru­cial for Chi­na to improve its abil­i­ty to spread its mes­sages glob­al­ly in order to present a “true, three-dimen­sion­al and com­pre­hen­sive Chi­na,” Xin­hua said on Tues­day.  Chi­na need­ed to devel­op an “inter­na­tion­al voice” to match its nation­al strength and glob­al sta­tus, Xin­hua said, cit­ing Xi. It also need­ed to strength­en pro­pa­gan­da efforts to help for­eign­ers under­stand the Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty and the way it “strives for the hap­pi­ness of the Chi­nese people.”

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As its image has tak­en a big hit in recent years, Chi­na has stepped up its glob­al infor­ma­tion oper­a­tions as part of the effort to repair the dam­age to its glob­al image and inter­ests, call­ing upon Chi­nese state media to “tell China’s sto­ry well”. Recent GIOR cov­er­age of China’s glob­al influ­ence oper­a­tions has included:

• In May, we report­ed that China’s for­eign influ­ence oper­a­tion bud­get in the US is main­ly cen­tered on tele­vi­sion broad­cast­ing and oth­er media activities.

• In May, we report­ed that Chi­na is laun­der­ing its pro­pa­gan­da in the Czech Repub­lic through local ‘alter­na­tive media’ dis­in­for­ma­tion outlets.

• In April, we report­ed that China’s state pro­pa­gan­da appa­ra­tus was expand­ing its influ­ence among for­eign audi­ences through “adver­to­r­i­al inserts” in West­ern main­stream media outlets.