A security official stands guard in front of a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Beijing Exhibition Centre on Oct. 12, 2022, ahead of the 20th Communist Party Congress.NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images
As the ruling Communist Party prepares to install President Xi Jinping for an unprecedented third term as China’s most powerful leader, Beijing is flexing its global muscles to demonstrate that Mr. Xi can command support around the world.
At the United Nations, and in regions such as Africa, the Chinese government is mobilizing its allies to praise its paramount ruler and deflect his critics. The campaign is gathering momentum at a crucial moment for Mr. Xi, who is expected to secure yet another term at the Communist Party Congress, which begins Sunday.
African support was vitally important for Beijing when it narrowly won a key vote at the UN Human Rights Council last week. Eight African countries sided with China in the 19-to-16 vote, thus blocking a proposed debate on human rights in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, where large numbers of the predominantly Muslim population have reportedly suffered torture and imprisonment in detention camps. Chinese diplomats in Africa boasted that the vote was the “voice of justice.”
China also recruited many African governments and politicians to denounce U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she visited Taiwan in August. They condemned her visit as interference in China’s internal affairs, a position that closely mirrors Beijing’s.
In South Africa this week, Chinese officials rounded up an array of politicians in Cape Town to sing the praises of the latest volume of Mr. Xi’s lengthy series of books on governance in China – and to echo his ideological view of the world. In an effusive tribute to Mr. Xi’s 10 years at the helm of the Communist Party, the event was billed as “A Glorious Decade.” Speakers took turns reading quotations from his 645-page book and urging the world to take lessons from his words.
“China has stood up,” said Cedric Frolick, an MP from South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress. “It’s growing into an economic giant that is becoming strong also militarily.”
The man who will shape the future: China’s Xi Jinping prepares for a second decade in power
This Communist Party Congress will galvanize the world, Mr. Frolick told the book launch. “The outcome of this congress will have a ripple effect across the globe. … A new world order is unfolding in front of us.”
Another South African politician, Anwar Adams, described Mr. Xi’s book as “brilliant” and “fantastic.” He urged the audience to read it five times and “let it soak into your soul.”
Similar promotional events are happening around the world. Chinese media reported Wednesday that one of Mr. Xi’s books has now been translated into Icelandic, a language spoken by about 300,000 people. At a launch in Reykjavik, former president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said he was “greatly impressed” with Mr. Xi and that the translations of his works were “like a dialogue between China and the world,” according to state news agency Xinhua.
Under Mr. Xi, China has invested heavily in improving its “international discourse power,” emphasizing the country’s role as a leader on issues such as climate change, while also taking a firm stand against countries seen as critical of Beijing. This “wolf warrior” diplomacy has not won many friends in the West but seems to appeal in other parts of the world – especially with governments that are themselves on the receiving end of Western opprobrium.
As part of this effort, Mr. Xi has called on all levels of the propaganda machine to “tell China’s story well,” expanding state media’s reach overseas, having his own writings translated into many languages and holding regular events around the world to “explain” China’s stand on various issues.
These efforts usually focus on China’s achievements in reducing poverty, as well as megaprojects supported by Mr. Xi’s signature global infrastructure development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Mr. Xi himself does not usually feature so prominently, though this seems to be shifting as Beijing attempts to justify the need for him to stay on for a third term – and potentially indefinitely.
Such a global propaganda push may be necessary. A recent report by Pew Research found that, across 60 countries, views of China have turned “precipitously more negative” during Mr. Xi’s decade in power. Most people surveyed were highly critical of Mr. Xi, with almost half saying “they have no confidence at all” in the Chinese leader.
The developing world has always been seen as the bright spot in China’s failing public image. Detailed survey data are not available for many countries, but new research by Joshua Kurlantzick, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations, suggests this view may be out of date.
Mr. Kurlantzick said that in many emerging economies there is evidence of a negative turn in public opinion, a “sharp reversal from China’s recent heyday, in which China launched a massive soft power campaign in many developing regions.”
Goodwill built up by BRI projects has been undermined by poor performance, allegations of corruption and China’s often tough approach when it comes to negotiating foreign aid. At the same time, the country’s zero-COVID approach to the pandemic means China has “virtually cut itself off from foreigners, and is hurting its soft power efforts,” he wrote.
Mr. Xi has severely curtailed his own overseas travel during the pandemic, missing key international conferences such as a Beijing-led summit with African leaders last year, though he attended via video conference.
He restarted in-person international diplomacy last month, visiting Central Asia, and will attend the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Indonesia in November, though he may find a much tougher audience there than in Africa.