{"id":35157,"date":"2017-10-31T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T19:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=35157"},"modified":"2017-10-31T07:07:44","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T20:07:44","slug":"the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been nearly two months since China\u2019s official media agency Xinhua debuted #Xiplomacy<\/a> on Twitter. Xinhua, with a weighty 11 million Twitter followers, initially used the hashtag to push out a new multipart documentary series on President Xi Jinping\u2019s diplomacy (you can stream episodes 1\u20136 on Xinhua\u2019s YouTube account here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But hashtag harmony didn\u2019t last long; by mid-September it had been co-opted, filled with tweets and memes by netizens who don\u2019t share<\/a> the #Xiplomacy vision. With Twitter banned in China\u2014and on a social media network with an immediate and largely uncensored feedback loop\u2014it was always going to be difficult for Xinhua to prop up the hashtag and keep it trucking in its intended direction.<\/p>\n

Social media platforms now play an incredibly important role in how states\u2014both overtly and covertly\u2014engage and attempt to influence populations overseas. China has never ranked highly in the world of digital diplomacy<\/a> but that\u2019s quickly changing.<\/p>\n

Over the past two years, the Chinese government has upped the ante with a global multimedia strategy that leverages China\u2019s state-owned media outfits. The strategy is particularly heavy on animation<\/a>, music<\/a> and storytelling<\/a> (and sometimes all three!<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Xinhua has developed a set of videos laying out China\u2019s vision and point of view\u2014on topics such as China\u2019s South China Sea claims<\/a>, its military power<\/a>, the One Belt, One Road<\/a> initiative and the recent 19th National Party Congress<\/a>. And those videos will be promoted across the world via different platforms and multiple video-streaming sites. It\u2019s a clever way to tell, re-tell and argue for a strategic and global narrative. And it certainly helps that many of them are fun<\/a> and easy to digest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last month the New York Times<\/em> revealed that Facebook had helped state broadcaster CCTV set up a Facebook page for President Xi Jinping. A small but very interesting detail to emerge as Facebook continues its efforts to crack the Chinese market<\/a>. Called \u2018Xi\u2019s Visit<\/a>\u2019, the Facebook page provides almost daily updates on the president\u2019s schedule, with a particular focus on his overseas trips and his attendance at multilateral events in China. It, too, turns to animated videos<\/a> to explain China\u2019s foreign policies.<\/p>\n

The geography of President Xi Jinping\u2019s followers also paints a particularly interesting picture. So who\u2019s listening?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Geography of likes for \u2018Xi\u2019s Visit\u2019 Facebook page. Graphic created by Danielle Cave, September 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

Not Australians. And few living in western democracies. But neighbours to China\u2019s south are, despite often low internet penetration rates, which put a third, or less, of their populations online. Xi\u2019s friend count is highest in India (733,900), followed by Pakistan (480,000), Myanmar (356,000), the Philippines (240,000), Cambodia (161,000) and Indonesia (56,600). Not bad figures for a two-year-old Facebook account that appears to put minimal effort into recruiting new friends.<\/p>\n

Online influence isn\u2019t only about reach<\/a> and, as Russia\u2019s bold and sophisticated cyber interference has highlighted<\/a>, it\u2019s not only overt. Government social media accounts tend to amplify events and third-party content and they struggle with genuine engagement and influence. Building a narrative that explains who you are, what you want the world to look like and how you intend to get there is hard. Proactively and strategically communicating that narrative online in a way that\u2019s targeted, convincing and effectual is even harder.<\/p>\n

The Chinese government\u2019s intensified efforts to get its narrative out there\u2014even if not everyone is buying what it\u2019s selling\u2014are impressive. These efforts provide a lot of lessons for Australia as we wait for the government to release a new foreign policy white paper<\/a>. While we\u2019re unlikely to turn to rap videos to promote our foreign and defence policies<\/a>, we do need to ask and answer an important set of questions, starting with: What\u2019s Australia\u2019s strategic narrative? Who\u2019s listening? And how can we better cut through?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been nearly two months since China\u2019s official media agency Xinhua debuted #Xiplomacy on Twitter. Xinhua, with a weighty 11 million Twitter followers, initially used the hashtag to push out a new multipart documentary series …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":691,"featured_media":35158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,391,294,1279],"class_list":["post-35157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-cyber","tag-diplomacy","tag-twitter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s been nearly two months since China\u2019s official media agency Xinhua debuted #Xiplomacy on Twitter. Xinhua, with a weighty 11 million Twitter followers, initially used the hashtag to push out a new multipart documentary series ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-30T19:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-30T20:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Xiplomacy.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"617\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"617\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Danielle Cave\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Danielle Cave\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Xiplomacy.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Xiplomacy.png\",\"width\":617,\"height\":617},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/\",\"name\":\"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-30T19:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-30T20:07:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/1730ec525f034baa16dd911fea57775f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/1730ec525f034baa16dd911fea57775f\",\"name\":\"Danielle Cave\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eb0eb0ac065aaf45b63a5b7a87b53d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eb0eb0ac065aaf45b63a5b7a87b53d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Danielle Cave\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/danielle-cave\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative | The Strategist","og_description":"It\u2019s been nearly two months since China\u2019s official media agency Xinhua debuted #Xiplomacy on Twitter. Xinhua, with a weighty 11 million Twitter followers, initially used the hashtag to push out a new multipart documentary series ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2017-10-30T19:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-30T20:07:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":617,"height":617,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Xiplomacy.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Danielle Cave","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Danielle Cave","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Xiplomacy.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Xiplomacy.png","width":617,"height":617},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/","name":"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-10-30T19:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-30T20:07:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/1730ec525f034baa16dd911fea57775f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-rise-of-xiplomacy-and-chinas-strategic-narrative\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The rise of #Xiplomacy and China\u2019s strategic narrative"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/1730ec525f034baa16dd911fea57775f","name":"Danielle Cave","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eb0eb0ac065aaf45b63a5b7a87b53d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eb0eb0ac065aaf45b63a5b7a87b53d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Danielle Cave"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/danielle-cave\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35157"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35170,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35157\/revisions\/35170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}