Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, the Communist Party has continued to “tell the China story” overseas through various propaganda means. While promoting its positive image, it has also mobilized various forces to silence criticism of China. In response to the CCP’s recent use of various propaganda machines and “war wolf diplomacy” to increase its global “narrative,” some observers have pointed out that China’s “sharp power” is demonstrated through its control of the discourse Some observers argue that China’s practice of demonstrating its “sharp power” by controlling the discourse not only undermines democratic norms, but is also counterproductive and futile.
Four Threatening Emails
On April 9, the Chinese Embassy in Sweden sent an email to independent Swedish journalist Jojje Olson, accusing him of “conspiring with Taiwan independence activists to fabricate fake news to smear China, make extreme anti-China statements, and spread rumors to stir up anti-China sentiment” and demanding that Yono immediately stop his defamatory reporting on China, or else he would “bear the consequences for their actions.”
Yono is a Swedish independent journalist who has been covering cross-Strait news in Taiwan since 2016. In April, he hosted a website, Kinamedia, which reported in Swedish on China’s boycott of H&M, a leading Swedish clothing brand.
Yono told Taiwan English News that this was the fourth “threatening email” sent to him by the Chinese embassy in Sweden this year, with the tone getting heavier each time. The Jan. 8 email said, “This is not the first time you smear China in the media, I hope you will take off your tinted glasses and do something that will help the Swedish public understand the real China.” The Jan. 12 email said, “We respect freedom of speech and have never tried to silence you. “, “I hope you will stop your baseless smears and attacks on China”, and that “people who throw mud at others only get their hands dirty”. A third email he received said, “Every time the Swedish media question negative reporting on China or when China is reported objectively, people like Mr. Yono use the concept of ‘self-censorship’ to accuse them.”
The Chinese embassy in Sweden threatened Yono with the emails, causing a strong backlash from both the Swedish government and the opposition. Sweden’s two main opposition parties, the Democrats and the Kiwis, have called for the expulsion of Chinese Ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou.
Swedish Foreign Minister Linde said in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen on April 10 that he had summoned the Chinese ambassador several times and asked him to respect Swedish law and that the threatening behavior was unacceptable. However, Linde said Sweden will not use the expulsion of the Chinese ambassador to make a political statement.
Chinese diplomat accused of crossing border
Sarah Cook is the director of research on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for the Washington-based NGO Freedom House. In an interview with the Voice of America, she said it is generally unacceptable internationally for independent journalists to be threatened or even publicly insulted and warned by Chinese diplomats for articles, reports or commentaries they publish.
In this case, some of these diplomats crossed the line and should be equally condemned or, even if it’s really really bad, declared someone persona non grata and then just expelled them or refused to renew their diplomatic status or other similar visas,” she said. I think it’s very important to really have consequences for crossing the border.”
Dr. Zhang Jiadun, a China expert based in the United States, told VOA that Chinese diplomats are doing things that they know are counterproductive in the countries where they are posted, but they believe this hard-line approach appeals to Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, as well as to many people inside China. This troubling development suggests that China is moving in a direction that no one thought would bring peace.
I think the Swedish government should expel the Chinese ambassador, as many Swedes would like to do,” he said. If they do that in our country, I think we should expel Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the United States. It seems to me that we need to make China pay the price for what is clearly unacceptable behavior.”
Zhang Jiadun said that China certainly tries to coerce small countries like Sweden, but he would not be surprised if they also tried to coerce large countries. He said Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo, said during a meeting with top U.S. diplomat Blinken in Anchorage last month that the U.S. can no longer talk to China from a position of strength and that “Beijing believes that it is the most powerful country in the world and can manipulate anyone at its whim. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to go after American journalists.”
Analysts see the Chinese Embassy in Sweden’s aggressive “war wolf” tactics of harassing, warning, intimidating and threatening independent journalists critical of China as the latest development in China’s efforts to strengthen its “narrative” abroad. This follows a March 19 tweet from the Chinese embassy in France calling French Foundation for Strategic Studies researcher Pendaz a “hooligan. Previously, Pendaz had criticized China’s policy toward Taiwan.
Chinese Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Li Yang, even tweeted an insult to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 28, saying, “Your greatest achievement is to screw up China-Canada friendly relations and make Canada a lapdog of the United States. You are a loser!” In late 2018, relations between the two countries came to a standstill when Canada detained Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States, and China subsequently arrested two Canadians in China.
China’s official media spares no expense to extend its influence
“Cook, director of research on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House, said the control of information in the foreign media by the Chinese Communist Party and other related entities is a very serious challenge. Not only are Chinese diplomats “on the front lines” overseas, she said, but official Chinese media are using overseas media and social media platforms to promote a positive image of China at any cost, trying to influence overseas audiences on issues such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.
Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice last year show that the English version of China Daily has paid more than $19 million in advertising and other fees to U.S. media outlets since November 2016, including to the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post” and “Wall Street Journal,” among others, have paid more than $11 million in advertising fees to mainstream U.S. media outlets. These so-called advertisements, which are inserted into U.S. media publications, are more like news and are used to promote the Chinese government’s position and to glorify the image of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
In addition, while the Chinese authorities block the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter at home, they use these platforms, which are very popular and widely used overseas, to operate accounts that convey official voices. According to sources, the China Global Television Network (CGTN) Facebook account has more than 100 million followers, while the English Facebook accounts of Xinhua News Agency and China Daily have 81 million and 95 million followers, respectively.
Countermeasures by the U.S. Government and Businesses
In the face of the growing influence of Chinese official voices in U.S. media and social media platforms, the U.S. government has intensified its censorship of official Chinese media, designating five mainstream official media organizations, including Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network, as “foreign missions” on February 18 last year, and four other media outlets, including CCTV and China News Service, as foreign missions on June 22. On October 21, six local media outlets, including the Jiefang Daily and the Economic Daily, were also added to the list of foreign missions.
The U.S. designation of these media outlets, which are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not independent, as foreign missions is seen as another response to the influence of the CCP and its spokespersons in the United States.
Under State Department rules, media outlets identified as foreign missions must, like foreign missions in the United States, be required to submit to the State Department lists of their U.S. employees and lists of leases and real estate holdings, among other information.
Cook said these enhanced regulations will allow audiences to understand and recognize the official background of Chinese media outlets so they are not influenced by their content.
In addition, U.S. social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have also taken steps to increase transparency about what their audiences know about accounts with official backgrounds, labeling Chinese media, including Xinhua News Agency and CCTV News, as “foreign media with official backgrounds.
Cook believes that these social media platforms have indeed done a lot more than before, but there are still problems with Chinese official media advertising on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. So there is more work to be done in this area in the future.
Analysis: Communist Party Loses ‘Narrative’ Battle
Despite China’s mobilization of its propaganda machine and its investment of manpower, resources and money to win a victory in influencing public opinion in the world, China expert Zhang Jiadun notes that China’s efforts are backfiring and people are fighting back, as they have seen in Sweden.
They’ve pushed everyone too hard and people are now starting to fight back, and what China is doing is not going to work,” he said. It may work well for people inside China, but it certainly won’t work for Swedes, and it won’t work for people around the world.”
Cook believes there is a lot of resistance to China’s efforts to strengthen its narrative internationally. She said public opinion polls show that there is widespread skepticism when it comes to international audiences understanding that information content comes from official Chinese sources, especially after Twitter, Facebook and others have labeled Chinese state media, or state-affiliated media accounts.
Cook said that China’s efforts to “get to the bottom of it” have not been effective, whether it is on the issue of cotton, the persecution of the Uighur minority, or the origin of the new coronavirus and the initial cover-up of the outbreak. China has not won the battlefield of influencing public opinion.
The Communist Party and China are indeed losing the ‘narrative’ battle,” she said. Looking at the polling data we have, most people don’t believe the conspiracy theory that the epidemic originated in the U.S. or came from places like Italy.”
Zhang Jiadun, a China expert, believes that China is indeed stronger now than it was 20 years ago, but that it is counterproductive for them to go around the world pointing fingers and causing China to lose influence in the world. I don’t think they’ve won recently because they’ve been so arrogant and so belligerent that they’ve offended all the people in many societies,” he said. So I think they are losing the PR battle.”
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