With the simultaneous deterioration of Russian and Chinese Communist Party relations toward the United States, Russia and China are placing greater emphasis on strengthening cooperation in the propaganda sphere against the West. Russian-Chinese media propaganda cooperation, which started years ago, has recently seen some new trends.
Russia and China use propaganda to confront the West
The European Union reported on April 28 that Russia and the Communist Party of China (CPC) have disseminated false information attacking Western-produced vaccines, linking vaccinations in European regions to a number of deaths in an unfounded manner in order to divide public opinion, raise doubts about the safety of vaccines produced in Western countries and increase distrust of these vaccines, while at the same time both Russia and the CPC have promoted the superiority of their own vaccines. Both Russia and the Chinese Communist Party have denied and refuted the contents of this EU report.
This battle over the vaccine issue reflects how Russia and China are now using media and propaganda to confront the West, especially as closer cooperation between Russia and China in the propaganda field is now a growing concern.
The head of an official Russian think tank recently wrote that a preliminary assessment of the U.S. Biden administration’s foreign policy toward Russia and toward China concludes that the Biden administration has largely succeeded its predecessor in this area, and that this succession is something that both Russia and China do not want. He believes that Russia and China can now play many cards together against the United States, one of which is to coordinate their positions on information strategy.
Some other Russian media also believe that during the Russian Foreign Minister’s recent visit to Guilin, China, both sides similarly emphasized confronting the so-called color revolutions. Russian and Chinese officials consider cooperation in the media and propaganda sphere to be particularly important, especially in the face of the Western world’s domination of international discourse. Communist Party officials also declared earlier this year that strategic cooperation with Russia has no upper limits or restricted areas.
Increased cooperation in the propaganda sphere to reduce criticism of the Chinese Communist Party
Russia and the CCP have been cooperating in the field of propaganda for years. Before the outbreak, officials from the two countries’ official media, foreign propaganda agencies, press regulation and other areas frequently visited each other and interacted with each other. In addition to various media forum events, special sessions on media cooperation between the two countries were set up at major international events, such as the Russian Eastern Forum held annually in Vladivostok (Vladivostok).
The two countries’ official media and foreign propaganda agencies have also set up joint studios on the other side, inviting their favorite experts to comment on international current affairs and criticize the U.S. West. China even invited scholars, experts and other individuals with Russian Communist backgrounds and left-wing overtones to visit China, hoping that this would reduce and eliminate criticism of China. These individuals then write books as sinologists, commentators, etc., commenting on Russian-Chinese relations and criticizing the West, while praising the CCP and singing the praises of its leaders.
The CCP pays particular attention to various interactions with the media in Russia’s border regions. In recent years, both sides have held separate media years under strong official promotion. A special subcommittee on media cooperation has also been established under the Intergovernmental Commission on Humanitarian Cooperation between the two countries. The two countries have also signed many agreements in this field.
With the press firmly under the control of the Kremlin, criticism of the Chinese Communist Party is now almost silent in many Russian media, especially in the official media. In these media, today more often than not, translations of reports from the Chinese Communist media are published. On issues such as the demonstrations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Russia’s big foreign propaganda is even more biased in favor of the CCP.
The efficiency of Putin’s foreign propaganda should not be underestimated
Despite criticism of the Russian outreach for interfering in the U.S. election and undermining Western democracy, the Chinese Communist Party media still cite the Putin outreach machine, Russia Today TV (RT) and Satellite News Network for their coverage of numerous news events in Ukraine, Europe and the United States, which suggests that Chinese audiences are learning about international events from a Russian perspective.
Current affairs commentator Kozlovsky says that the Kremlin propaganda machine should not be underestimated, and that it is at least as effective in controlling public opinion in Russia as it is in shaping public thinking.
Kozlovsky: “Specifically, the ideological issues that are now heavily promoted on Russian television, in various official and foreign media, include the revival of the Soviet Union, confrontation with and criticism of the West, the Cold War and so on.”
During the Cold War era, the Soviet military paid special attention to psychological and propaganda warfare in order to confront the U.S. West. To this end, the Soviet Union trained a large number of people in the field of propaganda. Many of them are now highly paid and still active in today’s major Russian media, playing an important role in Putin’s grand foreign propaganda.
Russia has its own propaganda strategy after years of fighting with the West, and the Chinese Communist Party is beginning to copy it.
Many analysts believe that from the Katyn tragedy, which involved the massacre of Polish officers in the early Soviet era, to the downing of a Korean Air passenger plane by Soviet forces in the 1980s, to the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane by a Russian anti-aircraft missile in eastern Ukraine a few years ago, and the poisoning of a former Russian military agent who had settled in the United Kingdom, there are many cases in which the common feature of the official propaganda strategy from the Soviet Union to Russia can be seen, and that is to respond to these specific events It is a common feature of the official propaganda strategy from the Soviet Union to Russia, which is to release false information and various explanations in response to these specific events, muddying the waters so that the audience is unable to distinguish and judge the truth when faced with various information.
What is more concerning to analysts is that after the outbreak, the Chinese Communist Party has been more intentional in its outreach and approach to imitate and learn from Russia, including a series of operations on the source of the Communist virus.
As Russia-China relations continue to grow closer, there are frequent concerns in Russia that Moscow will become more dependent on Beijing and risk becoming the CCP’s little brother. But some Russian scholars who interact with the CCP on a regular basis are quite unconvinced. They argue that in recent history, Russia has been in a completely different position than China. Russia has long been at war with the Western powers, and when the CCP comes face-to-face with the West today, the Beijing authorities are particularly interested in Russia sharing various experiences and strategic thinking about confrontation with the West.
Recent Comments