Thread by @DFRLab

🇨🇳NEW REPORT OUT🇨🇳

@kentonthibaut reports on #China’s discourse power activities in #Africa, #LatinAmerica, and the #MiddleEast, how China leverages its reach to gain influence, and the impact these activities have on democratic resilience worldwide. 🧵👇 atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-resea…

@kentonthibaut (2/8): As #China continues to take an increasingly active role on the world’s stage, its efforts have largely bolstered authoritarianism and eroded institutions in fledgling democracies worldwide through their use of their immense diplomatic, media, and political power.

@kentonthibaut (3/8): #China sees disseminating CCP-approved narratives in the Global South to enhance their discourse power as key. The strategy includes:
1. Co-opting foreigners' voices to spread pro-China messaging
2. Using international platforms to spread #propaganda in target environments

@kentonthibaut (4/8): President Xi Jiping outlined this strategy in a May 2021 speech, emphasizing that #China must “expand [its] international communication through international friends,” and that “foreign friends” will be the country’s “top soldiers of propaganda against the enemy."

@kentonthibaut (5/8): #China’s strategy involves creating multilateral regional organizations to advance interests in the Global South. China leverages these forums to gain support for its international initiatives, deepen its economic and political engagement, and to promote state narratives.

@kentonthibaut (6/8): #China has targeted the Global South in part because they see waning #US involvement in these regions as an opportunity to win “international friends” and convince others of its “peaceful rise” to assuage growing concerns over its increasingly visible global presence.

@kentonthibaut (7/8): The report is broken down into three sections:
1. An overview of #China's discourse power operations, including origins and aims
2. Regional breakdowns of Sub-Saharan #Africa, #LatinAmerica, and the #MiddleEast
3. Trends, themes, and a potential implications/impact.

@kentonthibaut (8/8): Read @DFRLab’s @kentonthibaut’s full report on #China’s discourse power at the @AtlanticCouncil: atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-resea…