Featured article: International communication centers everywhere are telling Chinese stories in different ways

He also said that since the center was launched last February, it has been a bridge between the media and local governments and enterprises, providing a resource dock and carrying China’s voice abroad.

The Greater Bay Area (Nansha) International Communication Center, established by the Nansha District Committee Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China in Guangzhou, is one of the emerging regional international communication platforms. in China in the last two years.

In September this year, Tibet, which is often criticized by Western public opinion, established an international communication center, becoming the latest international communication center at the regional level. According to statistics from the “China Media Research Project”, an independent media think tank, as of 2022, 26 provinces and cities in China will have established international communication centers.

These international communication centers aim to strengthen external visibility, shape and spread China’s national image, culture and values ​​around the world, and tell China’s story,and responding to negative Western media reports and reports on China.

In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Ho Li Ching, assistant professor of international relations at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, pointed out that several provinces and cities have jointly established international communication centers, which ‘ show that the task of telling the stories of China is on him. a gradual shift from central government to local governments; various sectors are increasingly important as channels for external exposure, actively promoting external communication through economic and trade cooperation, foreign affairs activities and interpersonal exchanges.

“This is becoming a national ‘Tell China Stories’ campaign,” she said.

In the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2007, the Chinese Communist Party proposed for the first time that it should “increase the country’s cultural soft power” and gradually build a “comprehensive, multi-level. and a wide range of “external propaganda strategy in the next few years, including the acceleration of the development of China’s official media. Form abroad, etc., compete for an international voice.

When Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, he quickly asked the CCP’s propaganda system to carefully carry out external propaganda work, update external propaganda methods, and story China is well told. As a result, communication coverage outside of China has been expanding, and the channels have become more diversified, even extending to some social platforms that are not accessible within China.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the time came when Chinese state media such as CCTV News, China News Service, Xinhua News Agency, and China Global Television Network (CGTN) joined Western social platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) , and YouTube was targeted. around 2013.

Lijing pointed out that China used to focus mainly on the development of hard power such as economy and military, but since Xi Jinping came to power, he has begun to pay more attention to non-material soft power; China’s ideological construction of its predecessors.

In 2021, when Xi Jinping talked about accelerating the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese reporting system, he further established on “telling Chinese stories well”,It is recommended to “try to create a believable, beautiful and dignified image of China”.

David Bandurski, director of the China Media Research Program, pointed out in an interview that the establishment of more local international contact centers is a response to this direction and is one of China’s latest efforts to strengthen external exposure. in recent years.

Ban Zhiyuan believes that the external communication work has been transferred from the central government to local governments On the surface, it is “decentralization”, but in fact, the central government has covered add new propaganda to the original base to further expand. the voice of propaganda.

“The overall strategy is still driven by the central government, and propaganda departments and media organizations at all levels are responsible for promotion and execution,” he said.

Zhang Zhizhong, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kainan University in Taiwan, pointed out in an interview that local governments are more flexible than the central government in disseminating local information, such as university students and corporate brands.

In addition, the communication center can design different action directions based on local budget investment, take into account local cultural characteristics, and display diversity of content.

Niu Siyuan, who is in charge of the Greater Bay Area International Communication Center (Nansha), said that the communication center uses video competitions and invites foreigners who live locally to submit videos. registered to promote Nansha as “international knowledge officers”.

In addition, the center also received a group of overseas Internet celebrities at the end of September, preparing them to visit the Nansha Tianhou Temple and other tourist spots to experience the traditional Chinese way of Xiangyun Sha to do.

Niu Siyuan said that the communication center currently has more than 40 domestic and foreign media organizations, self-media social platforms and think tank service organizations. He said that these media have created a powerful matrix of public opinion and are “the main external propaganda signs” with international influence.

Regarding whether the Communication Center can accept Chinese stories from different voices, Niu Siyuan said in response to a question from Lianhe Zaobao that various media are welcome to present mixed reports, but the premise is that these contents must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and comply with news industry standards.

He said: “We will accept the advice and good will of friends, even if our opinions are different. But we will never accept bad criticism from enemies. If someone deliberately destroys the truth affair, it is evidently not the conduct of a friend.”

Zhang Zhizhong noticed that local communication centers have shown more flexibility in areas such as culture and tourism, judging from the results of social media communication, the outside world has effectively accepted the diversity of Chinese society.

He said that more efforts in communication outside of China mean that audiences have more options when they receive information, and that the narrative about China is also different from Western public opinion.

However, Zhang Zhizhong stressed that when it comes to sensitive issues, if the communication center blindly avoids discussions in the Western media and emphasizes the beautiful scenery of these areas, it will be difficult to eliminate attention from the outside and criticize the matter.

He said: “If local communication centers do not follow the main propaganda line without considering the actual local situation and audience feedback, the propaganda effect may be limited or even counterproductive.”

Ban Zhiyuan believes that it is too early and too difficult to evaluate the impact of international contact centers in different places; however, it is expected that as more contact centers merge, advertising efforts outside each province and city will continue to increase, and Oversaturation of this type of content can be confusing create information.

He analyzed that China’s strategy is to flood the media environment with a lot of content. He said that much of the content about China on social media came from China, including output from the International Communications Center, but many of the accounts lacked transparency and were not marked as official, make it difficult for people to identify the nature of the relevant material. propaganda.

However, Ban Zhiyuan stressed that China’s communication methods are not completely illegal.

“There is nothing wrong with this approach, but when we step back and look more closely at China’s practices, it is clear that the main goal is to promote propaganda and shape China’s image, not education or improving media skills,” he said. said.