from Asia Program and Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy

Beijing's Global Media Offensive

China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

Joshua Kurlantzick analyzes China's attempts to become a media, information, and influence superpower, seeking for the first time to shape the domestic politics, local media, and information environments of the United States, East Asia, parts of Europe, and the broader world.

Book
Foreign policy analyses written by CFR fellows and published by the trade presses, academic presses, or the Council on Foreign Relations Press.

Since China’s ascendancy toward great power status began in the 1990s, many observers have focused on its economic growth and expanding military power. In contrast, most viewed China’s ability to project “soft power” through its media industries and its global influence campaigns as quite limited, and its ability to wield influence within the domestic politics of other countries as nonexistent. But as Joshua Kurlantzick shows in Beijing’s Global Media Offensive, both of these things have begun to change dramatically.

An incisive analysis of China’s attempt to become a media and information superpower around the world, and also wield traditional forms of influence to shape the domestic politics of other countries, the book shows China for the first time is actively seeking to insert itself into many other countries’ elections, social media, media, and overall politics, including that of the United States.

More on:

China

Taiwan

Southeast Asia

Asia

Kurlantzick focuses on how all of this is playing out in the United States, where Beijing has become the biggest spender on foreign influence activities, and also in China’s immediate neighborhood—Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand—as well as in Europe and other parts of the world. He also traces the ways in which China is increasingly collaborating with Russia in their efforts to become more powerful global influencers via disinformation and other tools, but critically examines whether Beijing has enjoyed great success with these efforts to wield power within other countries’ domestic societies and politics and media.

While China has worked hard at becoming a media superpower, it sometimes has failed to reap gains from its efforts. It has undermined itself with overly assertive, alienating diplomacy and is now broadly unpopular in many countries. Still, Kurlantzick contends, China’s media, information, disinformation, and more traditional influence campaigns will continue to expand and adapt, potentially helping Beijing to wield major influence over other countries’ politics—and to export its models of political and internet control. China’s efforts also may not only help protect the ruling party; they may also help China build alliances with autocracies and undermine press freedoms, human rights, and democracy across the globe.

An authoritative account of how this sophisticated and multipronged campaign is unfolding, this book provides a new window into China’s attempts to make itself an information and broader influence superpower.

One of New China Books’ Best China Books of the Year

Read a review of the book in the Irish Times.

More on:

China

Taiwan

Southeast Asia

Asia

Watch the authors book talk with the World Affairs Councils of Orange County, Austin, Phoenix, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, and Global Santa Fe.

CFR Fellows’ Book Launch Series: Beijing’s Global Media Offensive by Joshua Kurlantzick.

Watch an interview with the author held by the Global Taiwan Institute.

Listen to an interview with the author on The President's Inbox podcast with CFR's James M. Lindsay.

Listen to a podcast interview on Disinformation Wars with the author on Chinese media strategy.

Listen to a podcast interview with the author on BBCThe Media Show.

Listen to an interview with the author on LSE's The Ballpark podcast.

Listen to an interview with the author on China's soft power operations from the Asia Matters podcast.

Listen to an interview with the author on Deep State Radio podcast.

Read an interview with the author on the China Project.

Read an interview with the author in The National Interest.

Read an article on technology-enabled authoritarianism by the author in The Globalist.

Read an article from the author on how China has harnessed global information networks in The Diplomat.

Read an article from the author on China's influence efforts in Malaysia in Washington Monthly.

Read an article from the author on China's influence efforts in Australia in the Interpreter.

Read an article from the author on China's influence efforts in New Zealand in Stuff.co.nz.

Read the author's new op-ed on China’s failing influence campaign in Boston Globe Ideas.

Read part one of an excerpt published in Nikkei Asia on China's influence efforts with its diaspora.

Read Part Two of an excerpt published in Nikkei Asia on China's media influence.

Read an excerpt published in Foreign Policy on China's state media expansion.

Read an excerpt published in the National Post.

Read an article on the book on Axios.

Read the author's new op-ed in World Politics Review on China's influence operations in Central and Eastern Europe.

Read an interview with the author on 112Watch.

Read an interview with the author on the China Project.

Reviews and Endorsements

A highly illuminating narrative and a remarkable articulation of how China builds sharp power around the world and wields influence especially in developing countries. The book is a must-read for anyone trying to understand China’s global information campaign.

Yun Sun, director of the China Program, Stimson Center

In Beijing’s Global Media Offensive, Joshua Kurlantzick has produced a lucid and penetrating investigation into the history, theory, and practice of China’s global influence efforts. He shows that behind a veil of ‘non-interference’ in other nations’ internal affairs, Beijing engages in a growing range of open and covert efforts to make friends, influence people, and shape foreign nations in ways supportive of its increasing global ambitions. Kurlantzick knows this terrain well, detailing the challenge posed by China’s global media and influence efforts, and what the democratic world can do in response. Essential reading for a dawning era of superpower competition.

Sebastian Strangio, Southeast Asia editor at The Diplomat and author of In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century

This is a truly important book. Full of thoughtful insights and copious details, Joshua Kurlantzick has produced the missing link in our understanding of one of the most underappreciated geopolitical phenomena of our time: China’s use of media and information tools to present itself to the world in a benign light while undermining the United States and other liberal democracies. Kurlantzick leads the way for an important reconsideration of how political motivations, rather than economic concerns, are now the main driver behind China’s international engagement.

Joshua Eisenman, associate professor of politics, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame

Foreign information campaigns in and against the United States are nothing new, but China’s global effort is unprecedented in scale. This detailed assessment brings the threat into focus and suggests important ways to counteract it.

John Bolton, U.S. national security advisor (2018–19) and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2005–06)

In the News

Thailand: A Step in the Right Direction

Backsliding Beyond Borders

Beijing's Global Media Offensive

The SAIS Review of International Affairs

What to Expect From a Biden-Xi Meeting

Axios China

China’s Promise of Prosperity Brought Laos Debt—and Distress

Washington Post

China’s Battle for Hearts and Minds

Washington Monthly

Could China's Southeast Asia Media Offensive Get Even Better?

ASEAN Wonk

Three New Perspectives on China's Global Ambitions

Irish Times

An Examination of the Chinese Government's Global Influence Campaigns

Background Briefing With Ian Masters

Joshua Kurlantzick on Beijing’s Global Propaganda Successes and Failures

The China Project

Beijing's Global Media Offensive

American Purpose

Beyond TikTok

Democracy: A Journal of Ideas

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

Asian Affairs

China’s Soft Panda Power in a Time of Hardening Geopolitical Tensions

Channel News Asia

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

World Affairs Council Orange County

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive

ChinaFile

A Terrifying Silence (In Danish)

Weekendavisen

Off the Shelf

University of Oxford Alumni Magazine

Taking the Party Line

Times Literary Supplement

China's Global Media Campaign

Asia Rising

Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

International Affairs

Book Review: Beijing’s Global Media Offensive

Contemporary Southeast Asia

Why Global Players Should be Concerned About Xi Jinping's New Charm Offensive

Modern Diplomacy

China's Global Media Offensive

What China Wants

China's Global Propaganda Push

Disinformation Wars

Under the Influence

Journal of Democracy

Democracies Imposing Media Restrictions Invite China’s Influence

The Wire

China's Influence on Media, Politics and Thai Society (In Thai)

Prachathai

How China’s “Techno-Mediatic Socialism” Controls Global Information

Bitter Winter

China and the Information War

BBC The Media Show

Extra Innings: Beijing’s Global Media Offensive

LSE Ballpark Podcast

Beijing’s Control of Chinese-Language Media in Canada

Radio Canada

A Little More Conversation with Ben O’Hara-Byrne

Global News Canada

Japan and China Top-Level Visits to Russia and Ukraine Show Global Re-alignments

Deutsche Welle

Beijing's Influence in ASEAN Media

The Red Line

Book Talk: Beijing's Global Media Offensive

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

LSE Review of Books

China's Soft Power Campaign To Influence Asia and the World

Asia Matters

Soft Power and Influence Campaigns with Joshua Kurlantzick

American Bar Association

Circle the Wagon—Mates, Media, and Language

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Is China Winning the Information Race?

The National Interest

The Aspen Readings (In Italian)

Aspenia Institute

China Embraces Russian propaganda Tactics, Attempts to Impose ‘Xi Thought’

New Zealand Herald

China Now Seen As Influencing Politics More Than Ever, on a Global Scale

CBC

Why China's Charm Offensive in the West Has Become a Political Fiasco (In Swedish)

Dagens Nyheter

How I Became a Tool of China’s Giant Anti-American Propaganda Machine

Los Angeles Times

China on the Offensive

The Foreign Service Journal

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia

China Wields Sharp Power in Global Media Offensive

Pinter Politik

Beijing's Global Media Offensive

New Books Network

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: Book Review and Author Interview

The Kootneeti

China’s “Information War” Against The World

Barkha Dutt Live

Chinese Balloon Search Ends With Debris Recovered But Few Answers

Bloomberg

China Could Censor South Korean Content If Seoul Aligns With IRA, CHIPS Act

The Korea Times

U.S. Military Now Analyzing Chinese Balloon's 'Guts' After Completing Recovery

Japan Times

ASEAN's Myanmar Problem

The Irrawaddy Newscast

Why Future is dim for U.S.-China Crisis Management

The Straits Times Asian Insider

Little Scope for Better U.S.-China Crisis Management

The Straits Times

China’s Sharp Power

Mekong Review

China's Global Influence Campaign

Pace University

Many Countries Get Reports From Beijing's State Media (In German)

Welt Sichten

This is How China Has Conquered the Media Space in Africa (In Spanish)

El País

China Trying to Increase Influence on Journalists in Southeast Asia Through Training Programs

The Print

How China is Trying to Reshape the World

Hindustan Times

Is the Clock Ticking For TikTok?

The New Statesman

'Beijing’s Global Media Offensive': China's Fight to Win Influence Around the World

Japan Times

The Chinese Whispers That Are Getting Louder and Louder

The Sydney Morning Herald

Beijing's Global Media Offensive by Joshua Kurlantzick

Dari Mulut Ke Mulu Book Club Podcast

Beijing's Global Media Offensive: Informing Alarmist and Oblivious Policymakers Alike

The Montréal Review

Inside China’s Global Propaganda Machine With Joshua Kurlantzick

The New Statesman

Biden’s 'Supercharged' African Diplomacy

Politico

A Book Talk With Joshua Kurlantzick on "Beijing’s Global Media Offensive"

Global Taiwan Institute

Beijing's Charm Offensive

Great Power Podcast

China Turns On The Charm

Politico

Josh Kurlantzick on China’s Media Offensive

The Wire China

Beijing's Global Media Offensive: A Conversation With Joshua Kurlantzick

Deep State Radio

Interview With Joshua Kurlantzick On Beijing's Global Media Offensive

China Digital Times

China: A Global Disinformation Empire

World News Reddit Talk

China's Choking On Its Own Communism

Bold & Blunt Podcast

China’s Global Influence Campaign, With Joshua Kurlantzick

The President's Inbox

China's Media Mind Games

Asia Stream

The Existential Threat From Communist China: Insights From a Former FBI Crisis Officer

Epoch Times

U.S.-China Rivalry Increases Tension in Southeast Asia

Voice of America

China Spending Money on State Media Outlets To Define Global Narrative

Indian Defence News

Radio Interview: Beijing's Global Media Offensive

630 CHED Radio Edmonton & 770 CHQR Radio Calgary

What Now For China?

The American Prospect

Sharp Online Criticism Worries Censorship Specialists in China

The Print

Page 99: Joshua Kurlantzick's "Beijing's Global Media Offensive"

Campaign For the American Reader

Negative View of China Increases as Beijing’s Media Try to Boost Image Overseas

Voice of America

Has China Won the Global Media War?

Voice of America

Beijing's Media Power in Southeast Asia Grows

Axios

Book Talk: Beijing’s Global Media Offensive

Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs

China's Media Coverage of COVID-19 Is Shifting

CFR Think Global Health

Sharp Power Five Years Later

National Endowment for Democracy

How China Became A Global Disinformation Superpower

Coda

How China’s ‘Sharp Power’ Is Growing and Evolving

Al Jazeera

How China Is Exporting 'High-Tech Authoritarianism' to the Middle East

Dawn

China’s Biggest Newspaper Is Sending Mixed Signals About Long COVID

Semafor

The DSR Daily Bonus Brief: China Protests

Deep State Radio

China’s Push To Build An Overseas Media Empire

Radio Free Asia

Protests In China Highlight Beijing’s Efforts To Suppress Media

The Hill

As Demonstrations Erupt In China, Xi Jinping Is Caught In His Own COVID Trap

The Philadelphia Inquirer

How Chinese Citizens Are Evading Online Censors With Protest Content

Semafor

China Will Soon Match Russia In Fake News

La Vanguardia

Chinese Influence Operations Increasingly Include Meddling in US Elections

Epoch Times

Harris Is Traveling Near the South China Sea. Here's Why That Matters

NPR

Biden Works To Shore Up Friendships With Asian Countries On Cambodia Trip

USA Today

Hopes High As US-China Meet in G20 Summit

ABC CBN News

Near-Total Silence on US Midterms From Chinese Media

Semafor

China’s Influence Campaign Falls Flat

The Parliament

Top Stories on CFR

United States

Each Friday, I look at what the presidential contenders are saying about foreign policy. This Week: Joe Biden doesn’t want one of America’s closest allies to buy a once iconic American company.

Immigration and Migration

Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the record surge in migrants and asylum seekers crossing the U.S. southern border.

Center for Preventive Action

Every January, CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey analyzes the conflicts most likely to occur in the year ahead and measures their potential impact. For the first time, the survey anticipates that this year, 2024, the United States will contend not only with a slew of global threats, but also a high risk of upheaval within its own borders. Is the country prepared for the eruption of election-related instability at home while wars continue to rage abroad?