{"id":71239,"date":"2022-03-17T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T19:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=71239"},"modified":"2022-03-16T14:55:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T03:55:26","slug":"how-china-is-winning-the-information-war-in-the-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-china-is-winning-the-information-war-in-the-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"How China is winning the information war in the Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

As China seeks greater influence in the South Pacific, its manipulation of local news outlets is having a serious impact on media independence.<\/p>\n

Most Pacific media organisations are struggling financially, many journalists have lost their jobs and China is offering a way for them to survive\u2014at the cost of media freedom.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the \u2018no strings attached\u2019 financial aid and \u2018look and learn\u2019 tours of China for journalists; it\u2019s about sharing an autocratic media model.<\/p>\n

Prominent journalists and media executives say Pacific leaders are copying Chinese media tactics and stopping them from doing their jobs.<\/p>\n

China is one of the worst countries in the world for media freedom. It ranks 177 on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index. Now it\u2019s trying to influence media around the world, especially in countries which have signed up to its Belt and Road Initiative. That includes 10 Pacific island nations. Four remain with Taiwan.<\/p>\n

China has spent an estimated US$6.6 billion over 13 years strengthening its global media presence. It took over Radio Australia\u2019s shortwave transmitter frequencies in the Pacific when the ABC shut down its shortwave service in 2017.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s national television service is about to start broadcasting by satellite into Vanuatu.<\/p>\n

In a 2020 report,<\/a> the International Federation of Journalists warned that foreign journalists were wooed by exchange programs, opportunities to study in China, tours and financial aid for their media outlets. Beijing also provides free content in foreign newspapers and ambassadors write opinion pieces for local media.<\/p>\n

The federation\u2019s report found that journalists frequently think their media is strong enough to withstand this influence, but a global survey suggests that\u2019s not the reality and China is reshaping the media round the world.<\/p>\n

These attempts at \u2018sharp power\u2019 go beyond simply telling China\u2019s story, according to Sarah Cook<\/a>, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House. Their sharper edge often undermines democratic norms, erodes national sovereignty, weakens the financial sustainability of independent media, and violates local laws.<\/p>\n

Journalists<\/a> say this is an ideological and political struggle, with China determined to combat what it sees as decades of unchallenged Western media imperialism.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s mounting evidence from the Pacific of the impact of Beijing\u2019s worldwide campaign, particularly in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.<\/p>\n

The situation for journalists in Solomon Islands has rapidly changed since the country swapped diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing in 2019. Media freedom has deteriorated and journalists say leaders are now taking their cues from China.<\/p>\n

Media outlets are vulnerable to offers of financial help. Many journalists have lost jobs and others haven\u2019t been paid for months. It\u2019s estimated there are just 16 full-time journalists left in Honiara.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been little advertising since the November 2021 riots, a situation exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. The only income for one privately owned media outlet is from the small street sales of its newspapers.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Solomon Islands government held its first news conference for 2022 after months of pressure to talk to journalists. The government<\/a> denied there were restrictions on media freedom.<\/p>\n

As the media struggles to survive, China\u2019s ambassador is offering support, such as more trips to China (after the pandemic) and donations including two vehicles to the Solomon Star<\/em> and maintenance of the newspaper\u2019s printing presses. In the experience of other media, these offers are often followed with pressure to adhere to editorial positions congruent with those of the Chinese embassy.<\/p>\n

While some journalists are resisting the pressure and holding a strong line, others are being targeted by China with rewards for \u2018friends\u2019.<\/p>\n

Chinese embassies throughout the South Pacific are active on social media. In Solomon Islands, the embassy\u2019s Facebook site<\/a> includes posts about its aid assistance for Covid-19, joint press releases with the Solomons government and stories from official Chinese news outlets.<\/p>\n

There are numerous examples of the growing impact on media freedom.<\/p>\n

A freelance journalist has relocated to Australia after her investigations into the relationship between Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and a Chinese businessman resulted in harassment from police. She said police told her an order for her arrest came directly from the prime minister.<\/p>\n

She was advised by Australia\u2019s high commissioner to move to Australia for her safety.<\/p>\n

Veteran journalist Dorothy Wickham was among a group of Solomon Islands journalists who accepted an invitation for a \u2018look and learn\u2019 tour of China soon after the Sogavare government swapped allegiance to China in 2019.<\/p>\n

She said the trip left her concerned about how Solomon Islands would deal with its new diplomatic partner.<\/p>\n

\u2018By the time our tour concluded in Shanghai, I was personally convinced that our political leaders are not ready or able to deal effectively with China. Solomon Islands\u2019 regulatory and accountability mechanisms are too weak. We have already shown some spirit with our attorney general rejecting a hasty deal to lease the island of Tulagi, the capital of one of our provinces, to a Chinese company, but I fear how fragile and weak my country is against any large developed nation let alone China.\u2019 she wrote in an article for The Guardian<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

One senior media executive that said if his own government, Australia, and New Zealand didn\u2019t assist, he would look to China. \u2018There is too much talk about the role of media in democracy,\u2019 he said. He thought the Chinese ambassador understood that his organisation had its own editorial policy. Soon after that, though, he was asked to publish a press release word for word.<\/p>\n

Another media executive said he only had to ring the Chinese embassy and help arrived. He said China was rapidly moving into his country\u2019s media space with no expense spared.<\/p>\n

High-profile Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry says he has no doubt that some Pacific governments are following China\u2019s lead and adopting its contempt for critical speech and dissent.<\/p>\n

In 2019, McGarry left Vanuatu to attend a forum in Australia, but his visa was revoked and he was banned from re-entering Vanuatu. He told the ABC\u2019s Media Watch<\/em> program<\/a> at the time that he had no doubt it was because of a story he wrote about the secret deportation of six Chinese from Vanuatu.<\/p>\n

The six were arrested and detained without charge on the premises of a Chinese company with numerous large government contracts before being escorted out of Vanuatu by Chinese and Vanuatu police. McGarry said he was summoned by the prime minister, who told him he was disappointed with his negative reporting.<\/p>\n

McGarry said he had no evidence that China tried to influence the Vanuatu government over his residence, but he\u2019d seen a tendency in Pacific leaders to emulate behaviour they saw elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Now back in Vanuatu, he said the decision to refuse his work permit was still under judicial review and he\u2019s seeking financial compensation.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Papua New Guinea journalist Scott Waide was suspended by EMTV under pressure from Prime Minister Peter O\u2019Neill for a story he wrote about a diplomatic Chinese tantrum and a scandal over the purchase of Maserati cars for the APEC meeting in Port Moresby.<\/p>\n

Waide told the ABC<\/a> that Pacific governments were taking lessons from China in dealing with their critics using media clampdowns and intimidation. That didn\u2019t necessarily involve direct instructions from Beijing, \u2018but people watch, people learn\u2019.<\/p>\n

A dispute over media freedom has escalated with the sacking of the head of news and 24 journalists at EMTV in PNG. They were initially suspended but later terminated for supporting their editor over interference from a government minister about a story involving an Australian man charged with drug trafficking. On 9 March, the EMTV news manager was sacked for insubordination. The network has since hired a new team of recent graduates with little experience\u2014just months before the scheduled elections in June.<\/p>\n

These examples give a sharper edge to concerns about China\u2019s growing influence in the South Pacific and\u00a0 the lack of an Australian media voice there. The ABC\u2019s presence has been described as a whisper. There\u2019s only one Australian journalist based in the region, the ABC\u2019s Natalie Whiting in PNG. Meanwhile, Xinhua has a correspondent based in Fiji and China has recently been recruiting Pacific journalists for its global TV network.<\/p>\n

The situation worries Australia\u2019s national broadcaster. ABC managing director David Anderson told a Senate hearing<\/a> in February 2022 of growing Chinese influence in the Pacific. \u2018The single biggest piece of information that comes back to us from the public broadcasters is concern over the pressure the Chinese government put on them to carry content,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

In November 2019, the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum<\/a> at Griffith University expressed concern about growing threats to media freedom. It called on Pacific governments to fund public broadcasters properly to ensure they have sufficient equipment and staff to enable their services to reach all citizens and to adequately play their watchdog role.<\/p>\n

Australian journalist, media development consultant and trainer Jemima Garrett says media executives are at risk of being captured by China.<\/p>\n

She has no doubt that China\u2019s growing influence is a major story, but with so few Australian journalists based in the region, even significant developments in the China story are going unreported.<\/p>\n

Author\u2019s note: Some of the Pacific journalists in this story have asked not to be named or identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As China seeks greater influence in the South Pacific, its manipulation of local news outlets is having a serious impact on media independence. Most Pacific media organisations are struggling financially, many journalists have lost their …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1330,"featured_media":71249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,3244,333,730,2160,228,99],"class_list":["post-71239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-free","tag-journalism","tag-media","tag-pacific-islands","tag-solomon-islands","tag-south-pacific"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow China is winning the information war in the Pacific | 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\/how-china-is-winning-the-information-war-in-the-pacific\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How China is winning the information war in the Pacific | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As China seeks greater influence in the South Pacific, its manipulation of local news outlets is having a serious impact on media independence. 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