China reveals plan to pump out positive news about itself. Let's see what happens when that lands with social media fact-checkers
- Reference: 1622696227
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/03/china_positive_news_plan/
- Source link:
As [1]reported by Xinhua: “This week, the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) met to study an important subject -- strengthening the country's international communication.”
President Xi Jinping took the lead and “said the issue is imperative as it is conducive to creating a favorable external environment for China's reform, development and stability, as well as actively contributing to building a community with a shared future for humanity.
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“Xi urged efforts to develop a voice in international discourse that matches with China's comprehensive national strength and international status, presenting a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of the country.”
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The leader also “called for efforts to help foreign audiences understand that what the [Communist] Party pursues is the well-being of Chinese people. Efforts must be made to help foreigners know how the Party can get things done, why Marxism works and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good.”
[5]China all but bans cryptocurrencies
[6]Xi Jinping again urges China to home-grow more ‘core’ tech, faster
[7]China’s highest-ranked university creates school dedicated to integrated circuits
[8]Top Chinese policy think tank’s new 15-year ‘smart economy’ plan admits US sanctions have hurt Huawei
This will all be done using “a narrative tone that reflects openness and confidence, yet conveys modesty and humility, in a bid to shape a reliable, admirable and respectable image of China.”
China will build a corps of effective communicators to get this done.
No timeframe has been offered for delivery of these positive stories, nor has China detailed how it plans to get the word out.
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A flood of online content emphasizing China’s very best qualities is surely inevitable.
Just how social media giants react to Chinese accounts pumping out non-stop good news will be fascinating to watch. So will whether China can resist criticism if fact-checkers reject its output.
The nation’s foreign ministry regularly uses very strong language to protest what it feels is unfair treatment – such as any talk of topics China would rather avoid, like the massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square or the punishing reeducation camps for Muslims in the Xinjiang province. Chinese embassies have been unafraid to be highly critical of their host countries’ actions when Chinese apps are blocked or banned.
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Any changes to China’s cultural output will also be worth watching. While some Chinese cinema and literature has become popular outside the Middle Kingdom in recent years, the nation has nowhere near the soft power that cinema and comics have conferred on Japan, or the cultural footprint that contemporary music creates for the UK. That lack of cool factor was one reason Beijing was so upset by the USA’s ban on TikTok – having finally come up with a genuine youth culture phenomenon, China saw it labelled as a security and privacy risk that gave users around the world good reasons to stick with the social networks they already used.
News of the charm offensive comes in the same week as China made two other very significant announcements.
China will use 'narrative tone that reflects openness and confidence, yet conveys modesty and humility'
The first [11]changed the nation’s two-children-per-family policy to allow three children in each household without attracting penalties from the state. The change is an acknowledgment that China’s population is ageing, fast, and that the nation’s tax base may struggle to support a large population of retirees. It’s also an acknowledgement that China’s long-standing one-child policy means many citizens face the prospect of assuming responsibility for aged parents and grandparents, which won’t do a lot for productivity.
The other significant announcement, also championed by Xi, was a [12]restatement of China’s intention to become self-sufficient in science and technology.
Self-sufficiency won’t happen unless China has enough people to do the necessary work. Nor will it happen if China is viewed with suspicion around the world – Chinese researchers will nearly always yearn to or need to collaborate across borders and Chinese businesses will often need to source supplies from abroad.
This charm offensive therefore matters.
And now we need to consider seminal fuzz pop band The Jesus and Mary Chain , as it this week posted the video below in which Chinese fans extol the group’s virtues.
[13]Youtube Video
The vid is worth considering as an example of content that tells a story about something simple and pure: a Chinese fan’s love of music. As a Mary Chain fan myself, the vid tells me that I can find like-minded pals in China, a location that previously seemed an unlikely source of admirers of Scottish punk/pop/shoegaze music.
Watching the video therefore made your correspondent feel a little better-disposed to China and taught me a bit about local culture, all without a single mention of Marx or socialism with Chinese characteristics. ®
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[1] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-06/02/c_139985436.htm
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YLioPqOkA3MwmfkS5xl1YQAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/19/china_cryptocurrency_crackdown/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/25/xi_xinping_china_innovation_call/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/tsinghua_university_new_integrated_circuits_school/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/16/white_paper_on_chinas_smart_economy_development/
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[11] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-05/31/c_139981170.htm
[12] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-05/29/c_139976311.htm
[13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGd9Xk1aIIc
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: It'll take more than that
I'll add to your list:
- non-stop, rampant industrial and military espionage, stealing anything they can from the West,
- militarization of international waters,
- dissemination of propaganda to destabilize Western nations using an army of paid social media trolls,
- "wolf warrior" diplomacy that seeks to delegitimize, discredit and slander anyone anywhere who dares to criticize the country,
- refusing to accept that Taiwan is an independent country that really doesn't want to be ruled again by China, and lobbying to lock it out of the international order,
- plunging countries across Eastern Europe and Africa into debt-bondage via the innocuously-named Belt and Road initiative,
- subverting African nations and looting their natural resources on a scale that makes Western colonialism look positively benign,
- holding innocent Canadian businessmen hostage in tit-for-tat petulance because one of their own got caught red-handed breaking international sanctions.
Yeah. Until they cease all of the above, and probably a thousand other behaviours that "civilized" nations tend not to do, Winnie the Pooh Xi and his toxic socialist system can kiss my ass.
Re: It'll take more than that
June 4th tomorrow. What happened in Beijing on that date in 1989?
Chinese people are generally friendly and hardworking but anything coming from the communist party need to be treated as dangerous as it is.
If they feel the need to start a large scale social media campaign (aren't they doing this already?) is because they are trying to limit the damage that is happening now, simply because people are getting more informed about the commies. Youtube channels like China Uncensored definitely help, but their reach is limited.
Using western social media (which is banned in China, but used by their politicians for propaganda) is a smart move, free and not government controlled ( and in this regards, it should be)
Will the social media kick them out? They do ban politicians if they want, but seeing that CCP officials still have their accounts makes me feel uncomfortable.
maybe there should be tit for tat bans of social media. If facebook is banned in china then facebook should ban all official and unofficial propaganda from China
First thing they need to do is tell the truth. But that ain't never gonna happen. Corrupt, unethical, dishonourable, violent, liars are words that come to mind when the Chinese Communist Party is mentioned.
All reactionaries are paper tigers.
It's come to something when the most positive thing that could happen for the well-being of the people of a communist country is a socialist revolution.
Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
In the West we've been schooled from birth in the "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad" way of political thinking. I generally avoid talking to most people here in the US because they brand politicians they don't like as "Marxists" and yet they have no idea who or what Marx is or was, a sure sign of a brainwashed population.
For the record, Marx originated a particular school of economic theory. It wasn't particularly novel or radical at the time (1840s) but the his analysis of the relationship between capital and labor is as valid today as its always been. The people that wove political theory around this were from a later period such as the Russian revolutionaries came from a different generation. The Chinese communist party initially adopted this political theory but dumped in in the 1920s for something more relevant to their society.
The Chinese themselves refer to something they call "the century of humiliation", the period in their recent history where they were at the mercy of first western colonial powers and then Imperial Japan. Much of the country was backward with no roads and few railways. The western powers just exploited them but the Japanese visited all sorts of horrors on them. The Chinese gradually wrested control of their country but instead of it being united under what was essentially a western puppet -- the RoC -- the communists took over with the rump RoC government retreating to Formosa (Tiawan). Its progress since then has been remarkable, and we ignore it at our peril. The Chinese message is simply "we did this in a generation, you can do it too", its a message that's not directed at 'the west' but at the countless millions that live in poverty around the world.
We like to pride ourselves on how free and democratic we are. The reality is a bit more nuanced. If you live in the US you'll be aware of the extraordinary attempts to curtail democracy in many states. Many European governments, particularly in the East, have proto-fascist governments (we don't like to use that word so we use the polite alternative -- 'authoritarian'). We're constantly financing and 'advising' groups that promise to undermine governments that don't toe our line (in the US the primary agent of state funded regime change is the National Endowment for Democracy but the British are active in this area, too). We push and probe and when governments react to our attempts to undermine them we go on about 'democracy' but the reality is that we fear alternative economic systems, especially ones that work. They set a bad example.
Re: Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
so where in your apology for China's warlords of the past followed by never ending corrupt exploitative governments do you get to the incredible idea that socialism, whatever that code word for brutal dictatorship by clerks, bureaucrats and the odd sociopath means, actually works, anywhere, anytime ? So far, the only system of economics that seems to work is a fairly free market and that only in societies developed enough to have at least common high school education, avoiding fatalism, and other forms of superstition like divine right of kings, special interest groups, including tribalisms of all kinds. A strong community ethic helps immensely.
Re: Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
is not the problem with most of these "socialist" states that what they really mean is that the people running the party get all the goodies and the rest of the people slave to keep the party leaders in power.
Re: Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
I am sure there is plenty of ignorance about Marxism and this is an excellent time to do something about that.
Let's start with Marx's [1]slogan : From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Clearly all skilled hard working people should work themselves to death for a pittance so that the cluelessly incompetent and just plain idle can party every night.
Marx also places no value in capitol investment. You are welcome to demonstrate your commitment to this philosophy by lending me your pension fund at 0% interest and I will pay you back when I am dead.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_needs
Re: Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
Yeah, whataboutism.
Governments in democratic societies are very far from perfect. Governments in totalitarian dictatorships are much further from perfect.
Mao was a lazy, sadistic con-artist who saw Soviet cash as a way to ultimate power, and he pulled it off through good luck and devious politics.
The Chinese Communist Party of today are the continuation of Mao’s authoritarian, dictatorial bullshit. They kill and oppress their own people if they threaten their hegemony and they’ll do the same to all of us if we let them.
The Chinese people I know are mostly decent folk, just like non-Chinese folk are mostly decent. Unfortunately many of them seem to believe the lies they’ve been told all their lives that China’s success relies on the CCP.
The Chinese people are perfectly capable of being a great nation without the CCP or dictatorship, and one day they will be.
But the CCP, it can go fuck itself with its soft power.
Re: Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
Marx originated a particular school of economic theory. It wasn't particularly novel or radical at the time (1840s) but the his analysis of the relationship between capital and labor is as valid today as its always been.
Indeed it is, if by "valid" you mean "completely false and based on no evidence whatsoever". The 100+ million dead (and still counting) directly caused by those following Marxist precepts, is merely an incidental bonus.
Re: Pushback against decades of propaganda might be futile
tl:dr
You say stop and I say go go go
> international discourse that matches with China's comprehensive national strength and international status
> China can resist criticism if fact-checkers reject its output.
Which leads to the question: what will those "fact" checkers have to base their checking on? If China puts out a story regarding some aspect of (for example) how fast their latest train is, will a fact checker in some foreign country have access to more reliable information that refutes the chinese claim?
Or will this just turn into a battle of propaganda: with each side - the chinese news media and western fact checkers - pushing out contradictory material with no proof from either one.
So just leaving it to readers or media outlets to decide which version of the truth they think their audiences would prefer to believe.
Re: You say stop and I say go go go
Indeed. Fact checking assumes reliable information is available. Across borders it rarely is.
Re: You say stop and I say go go go
The CCP should only be allowed to post on "Western" platforms that are freely available in China.
The fact-checking can then be partly informed by China's "voters".
Let's be clear...
The Chinese people suffered under Communism. The Government aligned themselves with Russia. Then in the late 1970s, a smart Chinese Government official said "It doesn't matter what colour the cat is, as long as it catches mice" decided to loosen up and reach out to the West.
That decision (and the fact that the West agreed to support it) along with hard work, got China to where it is now. The assumption always was that the "loosening up" would continue, until there would be some form of Democratic system - like Eastern Europe now.
There is one thing that you have to understand. The CCP *must* blame other people. Damage done by the Cultural Revolution is blamed on Japan. Unrest is blamed on Uighurs and Terrorists. The failure of Mao is blamed on NATO. This is their ultimate weakness: cover up, rather than admit and fix.
Chinese Government today looks nothing like Capitalism, Socialism, Communism or Marxism. It's a paranoid mess of an out-of-touch government trying to take credit for the hard efforts of people working at TenCent, etc. The more they lose control, the more weird policies they introduce, and Chinese people are informed enough to see that.
(Not that the US/UK Governmental systems don't screw up big on a regular basis too, of course. Politicians there just have the sense to admit it when forced to.)
Re: Let's be clear...
And the sensitivity of the CCP to any form of criticism sure looks like weakness to me.
Re: Let's be clear...
first half was right, but second bit not so for me. They big boys do sometimes know what they are doing. It does include some of the factors u mention but also getting Hong Kong back and knowing they were helped tons. They pretty much photocopied that.
Also, the work done by the Americans in Japan proved a simple template that Korea, Vietnam and almost all there have are copying. And finally, the USA/UK invention of the web. All these elements produce a sum greater than themselves - magic.
They aren't listening. They don't give a f-ing pooh about outsiders. Read that Terry Pratchett book he based on Asia. It is like that. Still. Robots.
The thing about China to me is that they are old hands at civilisations. They have been through the stages the West in going through and it didn't work. I have a lasting image of their ingrained 'coldness' that they can switch on to outsiders and it's powerfully passive aggressive and uniquely Chinese. Generally, I like 'em but not so much if I have to battle them over something especially on their home ground.
The list above of bad things they have done is small compared to the British Empire.
But worst of all was seeing how terrible the Jesus & Mary Chain look. OMG. And the interview with the responses like, "We make music for ourselves", and gushing Asian fans - not even crazy sexy Japanese ones that we men would all like have a picnic with - or 2gen J-Pop-style K-Poppers. No 3-gen C-Popper/Rockers "Cool" wannabes - bless them and why not enjoy? Was expecting Alan Partridge to pop out at anytime. JMC u've spolit my memory of Psychocandy. Now I see this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJvGdOC6D1Y
Were actually very nice people
If you think otherwise, you may disappear...
It'll take more than that
Well, if China decides to hold open elections, stop the "re-education" of religious minorities, and allows Hong Kong to manage its own affairs, I'll be more inclined to listen to the propaganda. Until then, not so much.