As Xi heads to San Francisco, Chinese propaganda embraces America

Not long ago, Chinese propaganda warned that American efforts to reduce tensions were merely a feat. The state security service called on people to be wary of American spies. The country’s leader, Xi Jinping, said in remarks broadcast on state media that the United States was engaged in a campaign of “comprehensive containment, encirclement and suppression.”

Now the tone of talk about the United States has suddenly changed. The state news agency Xinhua published a report on Monday long article in English about the “enduring power” of Mr Xi’s affection for ordinary Americans. It included old photos of him riding in a tractor with an Iowa farmer and visiting the house where he once stayed in the “Star Trek”-themed bedroom of an American college student.

“More wonderful moments occurred when Xi showed up to watch an NBA game,” the article continued, describing a 2012 visit by Mr. Xi to the United States. “He remained remarkably focused on the match.”

In addition, Xinhua has published a five-part series in Chinese on “Getting China-US Relations Back on Track.” A flurry of other articles in state media highlighted recent visits to China by the American Ballet Theater and the Philadelphia Orchestra, or the story of American veterans who helped China fight Japan during World War II, some of whom visited China this month. “Veterans visit Chinese cities in anticipation of an eternal friendship between China and the US,” says one headline stated.

The reversal is part of Beijing’s preparation for Xi’s trip to San Francisco this week, his first visit to the United States in more than six years. He is expected to meet with President Biden on Wednesday, in an effort by both leaders to stabilize relations between the two countries.

Beijing in particular could be motivated to step up the meeting to reassure investors and foreign companies Titus Chen, associate professor of political science at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University. As China’s economy struggles with anemic consumer spending and high youth unemployment, China’s leaders are likely eager to show companies and investors that their relationship with the United States is not a major risk factor.

“This kind of propaganda is not intended to persuade – it is not persuasive at all,” Professor Chen said. “It is designed primarily for signaling, in the hope that recipients will receive the signal and implement the appropriate response, namely investment or resumption of exchanges.”

But even though the intended audience is mainly abroad, many Chinese social media users have taken notice of the abrupt turn — and are left reeling, or at least wryly amused. On the Weibo platform, some joked that several new TV shows about the fight against Americans during the Korean War should be shelved. One popular meme purported to show an editorial from People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, promising legal repercussions for anyone who tried to derail US-China relations.

below another message Showing real, recent state media editorials promoting US-China relations, one commentator wrote: “So in the future we should or shouldn’t hate America? So unclear.”

In addition to the social media snap, some Chinese academics and writers have also made a more cautious or pessimistic note about the prospects for a thaw in the United States. On Guancha.cn, a nationalist news and commentary site, columnists have noted that both countries are making short-term concessions for their own long-term strategic gain.

Even the most flowery Chinese articles have distinguished warm ties between the American and Chinese people and their governments; some state media have done so kept warning that the outcome of the California meeting will depend on the United States, in line with Beijing’s position that the strained relationship is entirely Washington’s fault.

Widely distributed in one article Published on Monday, Wang Jisi, a leading professor of international relations at Beijing University, wrote that a meeting between Mr Xi and Mr Biden was valuable — and likely to be scarce in the future — as the United States enters an election year. , when anti-China rhetoric could increase.

Regarding the future of US-China relations, Professor Wang wrote: “I am only cautious, not optimistic.”