Communist Party launches international charm offensive with show-and-tell tours, cartoons

Recent tours by Communist Party officials show that the party is attempting to take a light-hearted approach to improve its image abroad, an analyst said.

Rather than rely solely on offers of aid and extending trade ties, the party has organised more overseas delegations to explain Beijing’s policies – and in one recent trip presented a video that portrays Chinese leaders in cartoon images.

Beijing Foreign Studies University associate professor Qiao Mu said the latest move by Beijing to explain the third plenum indicated that party leaders were more aware of China’s image overseas.

“The use of a cartoon shows the more personable side of Chinese leaders,” he said. “With its rising economic power, China is well aware that it is time to boost efforts to lead public opinion overseas other than just stepping up trade and economic co-operation.”

One of these tours – to Laos – was led by Li Jie, vice-chairman of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to brief politicians and academics in the Southeast Asian nation on the outcome of the Communist Party’s third plenum meeting of senior leaders held last month, when leaders vowed to deepen market reforms and set out other initiatives such as establishing a national security committee.

Li’s seminar was attended by 600 Laotian officials, including government ministers and senior military officers, during the five-day visit last week organised by the party’s International Department, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily reported.