China’s media and public diplomacy approach in Africa: illustrations from South Africa

Abstract

Media engagement in Africa is a component of China’s contemporary strategy of public diplomacy, which is aimed at promoting deep bilateral diplomatic and economic relations. This article provides the context and impetus that have motivated Chinese state media players to provide their own content and points of view since 2009. Although China’s public diplomacy seeks to achieve a widely enabling environment rather than specific objectives, its singular approach to the dynamic and changing continent of Africa is overly simple. In this article, the case study of South Africa is used to demonstrate the limits and potential of China’s engagement in public diplomacy. This article also highlights the nature of South Africa–China relations and the South African landscape as defining factors that affect China’s meaningful engagement in that country.

Keywords:

• public diplomacy
• media
• China
• South Africa
• case study

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express her sincere thanks to the reviewers and editors for providing valuable advice in the process of producing this article. An earlier version was presented at the Third Meeting of the China Africa Think Tank Forum in Beijing (2013) and was subsequently updated.

Notes

¹ According to the Edward R. Murrow School of Public Diplomacy, public diplomacy generally “deals with the influence of public attitudes on the formation and execution of foreign policies.” It looks at aspects of international relations beyond traditional diplomacy. This includes governments cultivating public opinions abroad; interactions between private groups and their interests; communication on foreign affairs and the processes of inter-cultural contact. For more information, see http://fletcher.tufts.edu/Murrow/Diplomacy.

² For more on the establishment of China–South Africa bilateral relations, see Alden (1997) and Naidu (2008).

³ For detailed information on selected China media engagements (2000–2012), refer to the table in Wu (2012, pp. 13–15).

⁴ The soft power concept is not new to China. Confucianism (551–479 BC) opposed the imposing of values on others. The founder of Mohism (470–390 BC), Mo Zi, was against offensive force. Similarly, mind over force was the foundation of strategist Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

⁵ For studies on China’s telecommunications in Africa, see Sutherland (2014), Zao (2013) and Cissé (2012).

⁶ For information about Channel Africa, see http://www.channelafrica.co.za/sabc/home/channelafrica/aboutus.

⁷ One example is the Journalism Department (at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa), which is conducting a China–Africa Reporting Project. A group of Chinese journalists is selected to attend their annual Power Reporting African Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg, which is organized in collaboration with the Forum for African Investigative Reporters. After the conference, the Chinese journalists are provided with logistical and financial support for reporting on a China–Africa issue in an African country of their choice, and the resulting story is published in the Chinese media.