Is China’s propaganda machine losing the public relations battle with the US?
- Beijing’s tight grip on all forms of communication linked to the trade war could be doing it more harm than good, analysts say
- The one exception is Huawei’s 74-year-old billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei
During a lecture at Renmin University in Beijing last week, prominent economist Yu Yongding had a question: why have none of the Chinese companies accused of intellectual property theft by the US spoken out to defend themselves and dispute the charges?
“China has failed very much in this propaganda war,” said Yu, a former adviser to the People’s Bank of China.
“This is something we need to fix. Otherwise, in the sphere of public opinion, even something we are justified in doing would become unjustifiable.”
As Yu highlighted, while US President Donald Trump has tweeted about China more than 100 times since the start of the trade war last July, the Chinese government has been far quieter.
Analysts say this communication asymmetry has allowed the US to dominate the trade war narrative, as Beijing relies on its carefully managed state media coverage for its side of the story, which struggles to engage international audiences.
The hurdles for the bureaucratic Chinese propaganda machine centre on its lack of understanding of the Western public, restrictions for coverage to toe the official line, and existing preconceptions about China.