Beijing is making all-out attempts to restrict voices against the Chinese Communist Party to pursuit a positive image in the world post-COVID pandemic.
China in the last few years has significantly increased its efforts to influence media coverage and the global narrative about itself. Recognizing media as an important tool for asserting power and enhancing its narrative in international discourse, China is bankrolling scholars, journalists and experts abroad, censoring domestic media while keeping a tab on Chinese Diaspora abroad, The HK Post reported.
To meet the ends, Beijing is using over 20 organizations to carry out its propaganda work. There are close to 100 Twitter handles that are carrying out Chinese propaganda and disinformation after the world slammed Beijing for the origin and spread of coronavirus.
China has also started using a new tactic to silence negative reporting in local-language media. In view of that, the Chinese embassy in Kuwait recently persuaded a local authority to get local English Daily, 'Arab Times' to remove an interview of Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, in which he pointed out 'threat China poses to Taiwan'.
The Chinese Embassy also summoned the editor-in-chief of the daily and interviewer to the Chinese Embassy. The event is illustrative of the Chinese Embassy directly intimidating local media to prevent publishing contents that they dislike, The HK Post reported.
In another similar case, Chinese officials in Sri Lanka met with top local journalists and provided them with 'financial incentives' to produce pro-China narratives in their newspapers.
To pump up such propaganda, Beijing has also started production centered in London, Washington and Nairobi with locally hired employees to produce pro-Chinese content in Europe, America and Africa.
Meanwhile, on CCP's centenary, these 'foreign media' published content that deemed China's contribution to the cause of human progress, The HK Post reported.
Earlier in July, citing documents filed with the US Justice Department, an independent analyst claimed that China's propaganda outlet China Daily paid millions to prominent US newspapers and magazines in the last six months to buy media influence.
It is widely acknowledged today, led by Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has heavily banked on disseminating misinformation around several major issues including COVID-19, protests in Hong Kong, Taiwanese democracy etc.
Amidst a pandemic and a global race to supremacy, it's time the world realises that Beijing seeks to abuse the unreserved freedom of institutions in democracies to establish and compel its vision and shush its critics, wrote Baussart.
( With inputs from ANI )
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