From Beijing to Boston, China’s propaganda launch pads exist everywhere

"China-India border tensions flared up after India recently illegally constructed defense facilities across the border into Chinese territory in the Galwan Valley region, and Chinese border defense troops countered with increased border control measures." This is just an excerpt from a report, ‘China-India border talks prevent another “Doklam” but standoff unlikely to end immediately,’ in the state-run <em>Global Times</em> newspaper — the Chinese government mouthpiece — on the ongoing border dispute with India.

The report further quoted Qian Feng, a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute and director of the research department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing, saying: "The trigger of the event, India's construction of infrastructure on Chinese territory, must be stopped, or China will not accept the situation."

While there have been some positive developments Tuesday — the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has moved back its troops at Galwan Valley and a couple of other locations in the Ladakh sector — it seems that the ultra-nationalistic Chinese media is in no mood to back off.

The aggressive '<a href="https://indianarrative.com/world/india-watches-chinas-wolf-warriors-diplomacy-2275.html">wolf warrior</a>' diplomacy could be a new tool in China’s armory but the Central Propaganda Department (CPD) has been up and running since 1924.

Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao or their predecessors, everyone has unleashed systematic propaganda through it over the last many decades.

However, Xi Jinping, the current President, has changed the rules, or maybe the game, completely. "Xi wants the Communist Party to be combative instead of being passive, wage a war to win over public opinion and has ordered the propaganda apparatus to form a strong internet army to seize the ground of new media," the <em>South China Morning Post</em> had reported in 2013 while revealing contents of the president's speech during a national meeting of propaganda chiefs in Beijing.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3019" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/642b3c6143d722007395862d0a26d1ff.jpg" alt="" />

The second term gave Xi a perfect opportunity to realize his long-cherished dream of making China a global power once again.

"The ruling Chinese Communist Party is strengthening its hold on all forms of public expression, enlarging its powerful propaganda department to absorb agencies responsible for regulating the mass media, and exporting its ideology to the rest of the world via a new mega-broadcaster," revealed <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b22219ba.html">Refworld</a>, a UNHCR database, in 2018.

The events which have unfolded since have proved how successful the Chinese President has been, not just in controlling the media at home but also abroad by massively increasing the propaganda budget.

Washington's <em>Daily Caller</em> website reported Monday how one of China’s main propaganda outlets has paid American newspapers nearly $19 million for advertising and printing expenses over the past four years, according to documents filed with the Justice Department.

"China Daily, an English-language newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, has paid more than $4.6 million to <em>The Washington Post</em> and nearly $6 million to<em> The Wall Street Journal</em> since November 2016, the records show," said the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2020/06/08/chinese-propaganda-china-daily-washington-post/">report</a>.

Clearly, the 'rising nationalism' of China has travelled a bit too far..