Paul Tembe
A developing nation like China with an array of successes in economy, science, technology and innovation has become a subject of praise and criticism at the same time. Such circumstances have brought a necessity for China to tell its own story. The exercise will help China communicate with the world way beyond traditional diplomatic channels. In China and among pundits of China observers, analysts and scholars, the exercise is promoted using the moniker;
“Telling a China Good Story” or 讲中国好故事.
The exercise and strategies of telling a China good story have taken many turns since the turn of the 21st century. The latest feat that has attracted attention among wider global audiences was the use of social media, especially Twitter. This was in order to render diplomatic leaders and heads of foreign mission outside China to be more accessible to wider audiences around the globe.
However, the year 2021 has seen the subject of telling a China good story becoming a priority even in the highest levels of the Chinese government. The attention of this subject and initiatives aimed at its success talks to notions beyond traditional diplomacy but more towards public diplomacy and soft power. How does China plan to achieve such a feat in a world that currently encircled by laager mentality, unilateralism and dark age divisions among world nations?
In 2021, President Xi Jinping, chairing a group study session, said the issue of telling a China good story was imperative as it was conducive to creating a favourable external environment for China's reform, development and stability, as well as actively contributing to building a community with a shared future for humanity. Xi urged efforts to develop a voice in international discourse that matched China’s comprehensive national strength and international status, presenting a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of the country.
These remarks came on the back of President Xi having sent a congratulatory note to China Daily on its 40th anniversary. He called on the newspaper to innovate its approach to better communicate with international readers, establish an all-media communication framework and build a high-calibre team, so as to expand its global influence and better introduce China's development philosophy, path and achievements.
The two back-to-back remarks by President Xi reflected an urgent importance for improving China's international communication capacity. The importance of establishing innovative and robust public communication strategies in the new era has also seen heavyweight Chinese analysts comment. Zhang Weiwei, a professor at the Shanghai-based Fudan University, has weighed in on the matter of public communication and argued that, “People (in the West) have a lot of ideological and cultural obstacles to grasp the real meaning and essence of the rise of China.”
Zhang went on to call on both China and the West to improve their approach involving dialogues and deepen mutual understanding. The ideas and global standpoint of China need to be communicated in a better way to make China's voice heard and better understood.
China is in the process of making greater efforts to build China's own discourse and narrative, in order to interpret its national practices by its own theories. President Xi has always underlined the importance of using new concepts, domains and expressions to better tell China's stories and the spiritual strength behind the stories. He has called for efforts to help foreign audiences understand the historical role of the CPC (Communist Party of China), that is, to pursue the well-being of Chinese people.
Efforts must be made to help the world understand how the CPC intends to deliver on its mission.
President Xi drew some lines as to the climate that will make telling a good China story conducive. He stated that “multilateralism must be promoted while unilateralism and hegemonism should be opposed so as to guide the international community to jointly shape a more just and equitable international order and forge a new type of international relations”. He pointed to the need to promote and strengthen efforts towards people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries. He stated the need to turn China's institutional, organisational and human-resource strength into communication advantages, leveraging the role of high-level experts and using international conferences and other channels.
President Xi strengthened his outlook on advancing innovative strategies in efforts to advance robust and successful international public communication by suggesting the use of targeted communication strategies that can cater to the demand of different regions, countries and groups of audiences. He pointed out that such strategies were to help enhance the spread of Chinese stories and voices globally, and with an approach that is tailored to particular regions and audiences. He also urged for means to promote efforts that help befriend China in international public opinion, saying that the nation must improve its capacity to make its voice heard on major issues.
China is cognisant of the revolution that has and continues to take place in the media front and has made efforts to advance with these developments with the aim to better its national and international public communication. President Xi is on record pointing out that “the results of the information revolution should be used to build an integrated all-media communication framework at a faster rate”. He added that China ought to improve foreign-oriented communication through trying methods with new concepts, domains and expressions that are understood by both China and the rest of the world, telling the true story of our country and making our voice heard.
South Africa has faired very well in advancing a good image for government and the country.
However, the effort continues to be on economic issues with more focus on attracting foreign direct investments. A lesson that can be sampled from efforts towards public communication as applied in China is that of taking a holistic view on the subject. South Africa will need to involve the grassroots, institutions, NGOs and other stakeholders for it to further benefit from its already excellent strategies of positioning South Africa as a favoured destination by world players including China. South Africa ought to make more deliberate efforts towards courting and gaining from its closer relations with China. Such initiatives would foster stronger and lasting friendship between the two nations facilitating a step closer to co-operation towards building a community of shared future.
Tembe is a Sinologist and founder of SELE Encounters.