China's International Communications

Abstract

International communication is a dynamic cycle that is inherently relational, interactive, and interdependent that both ends of the communication play significant roles in producing, projecting and processing message flows. It is not about informing the other but to engage with the other, and understand the other better to make oneself better understood. China’s international communication has shown a shifting focus in reflecting its changing visions of its own identity and position in the world, evolving from showcasing a New China in Mao’s era, to an Open China in Deng’s era and a Strong China in Xi’s era. While its approach also evolves from being reactive to proactive, what remains unchanged is its government-centredness. Though increasingly diversified from state-driven activities to more diffuse actors especially in the internet age, its vehicles and actors are still dominated by state media, state-backed spokesperson system and state-sponsored activities such as the Confucius Institutes. Non-state actors are participating through social media and We media in generating more complexity and fluidity to the news flow, whilst new remits and strategies are also developed to engage external forces, such as borrowing “boats, lips and pens”. With amply supply of investment and technology, China managed to have its media outreach around the world and around the clock, but still struggles to produce the expected influence or achieve its ambition of redrawing the global information order. Structural constraint remains to be the key challenge as explicit censorship, self-censorship and laudatory style, infiltrated through the blurred boundary between state and party control into both internal and external communications are the biggest barriers to establishing credibility and improving the effects of China’s international communication. Influence and impact cannot be achieved with investment and infrastructure in the media industry, but need to be earned with both content and communication style. Remits such as “explaining the China model” and “telling China’s stories” show a departure from me to you, while more effective communication needs to move from one-way dissemination to two-way interaction to nurture better mutual understanding and a more constructive media environment for China.