- Beijing’s opinions in ads and newspaper inserts
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- Healthcare system hit by new procurement rules
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- Johnny Erling: Where China’s leadership takes a political dive
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Beijing propagates its image of China through sport, culture and language – but increasingly directly through advertisements in Western newspapers as well. More and more frequently, inserts are appearing in renowned foreign media. The goal: building more credibility and sympathy. Marcel Grzanna has traced the origins of CCP’s advertisements, which also appear throughout German and US media. His discovery: China’s state propaganda is delivered directly to the breakfast table with the newspaper.
Once upon a time, pictures of Mao Zedong taking a swim at the beach surfaced. Xi Jinping will hardly allow himself to be photographed in a similar situation. Our columnist Johnny Erling explains why China’s leadership nevertheless meets at a seaside resort, and why it is sometimes a venue for far-reaching geopolitical consequences. The popular beach of Beidaihe – just two hours by train northeast of Beijing – is also an important site for personnel decisions within the party. A generational shift is in store for the CCP. Except for Xi Jinping himself, who holds his office for life. Hardly any other member of the Chinese political elite will be allowed to travel to Beidaihe forever – at least not to the part of the beach cordoned off and reserved for the political nobility.
Have a restful weekend.
Ning Wang
Feature
China’s propaganda in Western media
For years, the U.S. branch of China’s news agency Xinhua had successfully evaded its compulsory registration as a foreign outlet in the United States. Despite initial demands in 2018 by the Department of Justice in Washington, it took until early May this year before the state-run medium complied with the legal framework. U.S. authorities, who classify Xinhua as an advocacy group for the Chinese state and thus brand it a propaganda tool, can now finally track in detail how much money flows from the People’s Republic to financially support Xinhua’s activities throughout the US. Between March last year and April 2021, transactions amounted to around 8.6 million US dollars.
China Daily and foreign TV station CGTN, which equally represent and market the Communist Party line around the globe, missed their registration deadline and only filed as foreign missions last year. Through the extensive delay of the bureaucratic procedures, the People’s Republic was able to conceal the financial volume of its propaganda in the United States for a long time.
All Chinese institutions currently registered as foreign missions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) received around 64 million US dollars from China last year. Almost six and a half times more than in 2016, back when the three media houses were not yet registered. No other country in the world spends this much on its lobbying efforts in the US. Most of it goes to influencing public opinion. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), an independent non-profit research organization in Washington dedicated to uncovering cash streams within US politics, Xinhua, China Daily and CGTN accounted for 80 percent of the US$64 million expenses. FARA has been in effect since 1938 when it was implemented by the US government to counter Nazi propaganda from Germany.
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