Yearly, China’s minister of international affairs embarks on what has now change into a customary odyssey throughout Africa. The custom started within the late Eighties and sees Beijing’s prime diplomat go to a number of African nations to reaffirm ties. The latest go to, by International Minister Wang Yi, happened in mid-January 2025 and included stops in Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Chad and Nigeria.
For over 20 years, China’s burgeoning affect in Africa was symbolized by grand shows of infrastructural may. From Nairobi’s gleaming towers to expansive ports dotting the continent’s shorelines, China’s investments on the continent have surged, reaching over US$700 billion by 2023 beneath the Belt and Highway Initiative, China’s huge international infrastructure improvement technique.
However lately, Beijing has sought to broaden past roads and skyscrapers and has made a play for the hearts and minds of African folks. With a deft mixture of persuasion, energy and cash, Beijing has turned to African media as a possible conduit for its geopolitical ambitions.
Partnering with native shops and journalist-training initiatives, China has expanded China’s media footprint in Africa. Its objective? To vary perceptions and anchor the thought of Beijing as a supplier of assets and help, and a mannequin for improvement and governance.
The ploy seems to be paying dividends, with proof of sections of the media giving favorable protection to China. However as somebody researching the attain of China’s affect abroad, I’m starting to see a nascent backlash towards pro-Beijing reporting in international locations throughout the continent.
The media allure offensive
China’s strategy to Africa rests primarily on its use of “soft power,” manifested via issues just like the media and cultural packages. Beijing presents this as “win-win cooperation” – a quintessential Chinese language diplomatic phrase mixing collaboration with cultural diplomacy.
Against this, Western media presence in Africa stays comparatively restricted. The BBC, lengthy embedded as a result of United Kingdom’s colonial legacy, nonetheless maintains a big footprint amongst international shops, however its affect is basically historic slightly than increasing. And as Western media affect in Africa has plateaued, China’s state-backed media has grown exponentially. This enlargement is very evident within the digital area. On Fb, for instance, CGTN Africa instructions a staggering 4.5 million followers, vastly outpacing CNN Africa, which has 1.2 million — a stark indicator of China’s rising tender energy attain.
China’s zero-tariff commerce coverage with 33 African international locations showcases the way it makes use of financial insurance policies to mould perceptions. And state-backed media shops like CGTN Africa and Xinhua are central to highlighting such initiatives and pushing a picture of China as a benevolent accomplice.
Tales of an “all-weather” or steadfast China-Africa partnership are broadcast broadly, and the protection ceaselessly depicts the grand nature of Chinese language infrastructure initiatives. Amid this glowing protection, the labor disputes, environmental devastation or debt traps related to some Chinese language-built infrastructure are much less more likely to make headlines.
Questions of media veracity however, China’s technique is bearing fruit. A Gallup ballot from April 2024 confirmed China’s approval scores climbing in Africa as U.S. scores dipped. Afrobarometer, a pan-African analysis group, additional experiences that public opinion of China in lots of African international locations is positively glowing, an obvious validation of China’s discourse engineering.
Additional, research have proven that pro-Beijing media influences perceptions. A 2023 survey of Zimbabweans discovered that those that have been uncovered to Chinese language media have been extra more likely to have a constructive view of Beijing’s financial actions within the nation.
China’s international minister Wang Yi, middle, holds arms together with his counterparts, Senegal’s Yassine Fall, left, and the Republic of the Congo’s Jean-Claude Gakosso, after a joint information convention.
AP Photograph/Andy Wong
Co-opting native voices
The effectiveness of China’s media technique turns into particularly obvious within the integration of native media. By means of content-sharing agreements, African shops have disseminated Beijing’s editorial line and tales from Chinese language state media, usually with out the due diligence of journalistic skepticism.
In the meantime, StarTimes, a Chinese language media firm, delivers a gradual stream of curated depictions of translated Chinese language motion pictures, TV exhibits and documentaries throughout 30 international locations in Africa.
However China just isn’t merely pushing its viewpoint via African channels. It’s additionally taking a lead position in coaching African journalists, 1000’s of whom have been lured by all-expenses-paid journeys to China beneath the guise of “professional development.” On such junkets, they obtain coaching that critics say obscures the excellence between skill-building and propaganda, presenting them with views conforming to Beijing’s line.
‘Win-win’ guarantees
In Angola, Chinese language oil firms extract appreciable assets and channel billions into infrastructure initiatives. The native media, once more frequently staffed by journalists who’ve accepted invites to go to China, usually painting Sino-Angolan relations in glowing phrases. Allegations of corruption, the displacement of native communities and environmental degradation are relegated to aspect notes within the identify of frequent improvement.
The conflict for Africa’s media soul
Regardless of all the Chinese language affect, media views in Africa are removed from uniformly pro-Beijing.
In Kenya, voices of dissent are starting to rise, and media professionals proof against Beijing’s attract are probing the true prices of Chinese language monetary undertakings. In South Africa, media watchdogs are sounding alarms, pointing to a gradual attrition of press freedoms that come packaged with guarantees of development and prosperity. In Ghana, nervousness about Chinese language media affect permeates greater than the journalism sector, as officers have raised issues in regards to the implications of Chinese language media cooperation agreements. Wariness in Ghana grew to become particularly obvious when native journalists began reporting that Chinese language-produced content material was being prioritized over home tales in state media.
Beneath the floor of China’s well-publicized initiatives and media choices, and the African international locations or organizations that embrace Beijing’s line, a big countervailing power exists that challenges uncritical representations and pursues rigorous journalism.
But as CGTN Africa and Xinhua change into entrenched in African media ecosystems, a pertinent query involves the forefront: Will Africa’s journalists and press be capable to uphold their impartiality and retain mental independence?
As China continues to make strategic inroads in Africa, it’s a good query.