Intellect

Authors:  Xin Xin 
DOI: 10.1386/jams.1.3.363/1

Keywords
China-Africa relations, China and ‘soft power’, Xinhua News Agency, news flows, media imperialism

Abstract
China's growing economic influence in Africa, and in the sub-Saharan region in particular, has drawn enormous attention around the world, especially in the West. An important but as yet under-studied aspect of China's increasing presence in Africa is related to the question about whether the party-state will exert its ideological influence on local politics and public space through media expansion in this region. Media initiatives associated with the ‘Going abroad’ project have been in full swing in recent years, in parallel with the growing concern by Chinese authorities about the mismatch between China's strong economic power and weak media influence. This paper focuses on Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua's major forms of intervention in Africa include setting up bureaux, developing news portfolio targeting African audiences, exchanging news with (or selling news wires to) African media subscribers, and providing technical equipment and support as well as training African journalists. The first two forms of intervention have been on top of Xinhua's agenda in recent years and will be the focus of this article. The increasing presence of Xinhua in Africa sheds some light on the debate on ‘media imperialism’ and international news flows in the context of China's economic rise.