⌙ Research

DIGITAL DIPLOMACY 2022 – 2023-I:THE STRENGTHENING OF CHINA’S DIGITAL DIPLOMACY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Fundación Andrés Bello

This report represents the culmination of a series of annual investigations which first begun in 2020, focused on analyzing the evolution of the digital diplomacy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The objective of these investigations is to examine how Chinese diplomatic corps in the region use the social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) as a public diplomacy tool. This latest report covers the content published between 2022 and the first half of 2023, performing a comparative analysis with previous years. An exhaustive discursive analysis of the content published by these accounts was carried out in order to understand official Chinese rhetoric, expressed interests, and interactions with local audiences.

Main findings:
  • The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the development and strengthening of the digitalization of public diplomacy of the People’s Republic of China in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Through the analysis of the activity of the accounts and their discursive content, the main characteristics of its public diplomacy became evident, and frame the main guidelines of its foreign policy: on the one hand, a reactive tendency aimed at protection and defense of the PRC’s image at a domestic and international level; and, on the other hand, a proactive trend aimed at reinforcing its role as a supportive, cooperative, peaceful and reliable partner at a global level.
  • The study shows how through the different interactions of the accounts – retweets, mentions and responses– between the years 2020 and the first half of 2023, communication with the foreign public – the main objective of public diplomacy – has gone from a unidirectional trend to a more bidirectional one, establishing a dialogue with foreign audiences which has been increasing and strengthening.
  • The level of X account activity of PRC representatives in LAC remains minuscule compared to that of other extra-regional countries, especially the United States. This report should be read as a guide to the PRC’s narratives and interests in LAC and not as a measure of its influence.

Download the complete report here

*Read the Methodology in this link