Changing Strategies and Mixed Agendas

Contradiction and Fragmentation within China’s External Propaganda

Bibliographic Data

ID12422938
AuthorsClyde Yicheng Wang (0000-0002-2397-9501, Boston University, MA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume32
Issue142
Pages586-601
Publication date2022-08-07
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10670564.2022.2109808
OpenAlexW4290545992
LanguageEN
Citations received11

China’s external propaganda, or waixuan, is organized by two separate bureaucratic systems – the ‘propaganda system’ and the ‘foreign affairs system.’ This article examines waixuan’s changing strategies and the bureaucratic structure’s adjustments. It argues that since 2012, waixuan has moved on from its previous emphasis on traditional culture in the Jiang and Hu periods to promoting China’s development model. The Foreign Ministry bears the pressure to project the image of a great power, making waixuan increasingly ideology-oriented and inflexible. Meanwhile, the great power narrative provides both opportunities and pressure for the propaganda system to use waixuan to feed nationalism among domestic audiences, even though it has been cautious about nationalist mobilization. Such nationalism, in turn, further ideologizes waixuan, making it difficult to attract foreign audiences

Bureaucracy · China · Contradiction · Foreign policy · Ideology · Ministry of Foreign Affairs · Narrative · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Soft power · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Law · Public Administration

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