By Wesley Oliveira
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is expected to sign an agreement with the China Media Group (CMG), controlled by China’s Communist leader, Xi Jinping.
Analysts said Beijing might use the partnership to influence Brazilian viewers and create a more positive overall view of the Chinese government.
China has had its image eroded by being the country of origin of the Covid-19 pandemic and then using its power as the largest supplier of medical supplies to make political and economic bargains.
In addition, the communist, dictatorial political system of leader Xi Jinping is also not well regarded in democratic countries in the West.
The China Media Group is a state-owned TV set up in 2018 and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. It includes companies such as Central China Television, China National Radio, and others.
The cooperation agreement is expected to be formalized during Lula’s time in China.
It foresees, among other points, the “exchange and cooperation of content in favor of economic, social and sustainable development of the two countries”.
In addition, the agreement foresees an exchange of professionals.
That is, Chinese professionals will be able to work in Brazil, and national professionals will be able to do their internships in China.
“The memorandum signed between Brazil and the Chinese state-owned company aims to establish a series of partnerships, such as content cooperation, collaboration in the innovation of technologies in economic and social development; organization and coverage of events,” the Ministry of Institutional Relations said in a statement.
The ministry, headed by Minister Alexandre Padilha, coordinates the agreement between the two countries.
The partnership will be valid for two years with automatic renewal for an equal period.
For Marcelo Suano, professor of International Relations at Ibmec, there must be a criterion for distributing content from China to Brazil.
“The question of them placing content in Brazilian media is a key point.”
“Interestingly, the countries make agreements that allow media companies to collaborate. The problem is in the placement of content.”
“How will they be made available? How will they be worked on in society?” questions Suano.
Also, according to the professor, the movement can be seen as a public diplomacy strategy by China.
“People think that public diplomacy is the one done between governments, but public diplomacy is the way a country develops a strategy to enter the society of the countries it is relating to transmitting a positive vision of what it is and wants,” he adds.
BOLSONARO ACCEPTED A SIMILAR TREATY IN THE AUDIOVISUAL AREA
The proposal follows the same model of a treaty signed in 2019 by then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) during Xi Jinping’s visit to Brazil.
At the time, the Brazilian government claimed the idea was to promote cultural and audiovisual exchange between the two countries.
Under the terms of the agreement, the exchange of films and television programs was foreseen, as well as the promotion of Brazilian film festivals in China and Chinese film festivals in Brazil, for the reciprocal promotion of films.
It was also intended to begin conversations about establishing a subscription television channel dedicated exclusively to Sino-Brazilian programs and films.
However, just as in the economy, Brazil and China are at very different levels in the audiovisual field.
The Chinese have a state-owned audiovisual industry that is on the rise and has entered a not-so-hot Brazilian market with millions of dollars.
The Brazilian audiovisual market also depends on state financing, but the state does not control it but by private initiative.
However, a large part of the production is financed through Audiovisual Law, which allows funds to be raised from private companies in exchange for tax rebates.
The productions with Chinese subsidies have been trying to get off the ground in Brazil but have encountered cultural differences that make it difficult for the projects to proceed.
Now, Lula’s government argues that the new agreement will provide cooperation in content, technology, organization, and coverage of events.
Before Lula’s trip to China, journalist Hélio Doyle, president of the EBC, met with the president of the Latin American CMG, Zhu Boying, to discuss resuming the partnership.
Doyle expressed interest in using CMG’s platforms to disseminate content about Brazil in China.
Furthermore, the Palácio do Planalto states that it is negotiating agreements of the same nature with Portugal and Spain, and there is interest in extending them to other European Union nations, the United States, and Canada.
In Marcelo Suano’s evaluation, the Chinese are working with the “time factor” to advance their strategies.
“If this is going to be done in the long term, it is within the Chinese strategy of cubic diplomacy.”
“They have one thing we don’t have, the time thing.”
“So they advance one piece and wait; if no one is looking, they quickly advance two three four pieces,” argues the professor of International Relations.
THE REPORT CITES BRAZIL IN CHINA’S CAMPAIGN TO INFLUENCE GLOBAL MEDIA
The agreement closed with Brazil by the communication group controlled by the Chinese Communist Party is part of China’s strategy to expand its global influence.
A report by the NGO Freedom House, based in Washington and partially financed by the United States government, points out this.
Beijing’s move is part of a strategy to try to reverse the negative opinions that the world has about the country.
The Chinese assessment is that this bad reputation results from misperceptions due to how the Western media portrays the Asian country.
The Chinese communist regime seeks to influence global opinion and create a more positive view of China through state-run media.
“Beijing’s media influence in Brazil is significant and growing.”
“During the coverage period from 2019 to 2021, Chinese state media and diplomatic actors actively engaged in public diplomacy and expanded their social media presence.”
“Chinese state-owned media also signed or renewed cooperation agreements with Brazilian private and public media,” says the Freedom House document.
In this strategy, the Chinese state-owned media tried to address sensitive topics such as Taiwan’s independence and the debate surrounding the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines against Covid-19.
The Asian country also invested in “positive messages about the economic relationship” between the two nations, highlighting the importance of Chinese companies for the Brazilian 5G network.
The government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) had resistance to Huawei’s participation in Brazil’s 5G networks, citing the same concerns as the United States.
However, the guidelines for the technology’s implementation, approved in 2021, contain no restrictions on the Chinese company, which supplies equipment to the country’s three largest telephone operators.
This is because replacing equipment already installed by Huawei in Brazil would be technically unfeasible.
Although China’s media presence is relevant in Brazil, the Freedom House report states that “there was no evidence of disinformation campaigns originating in China that used coordinated or inauthentic behavior to specifically target news consumers in Brazil.”
The concern is justified because, during the pandemic, the Chinese government launched web-based disinformation campaigns in the United States and the African continent.
Also, according to the report, Brazilians strongly resist media content from foreign vehicles.
“Brazil has strong limits on foreign ownership in the media and telecommunications sectors.”
“The country also has a tradition of investigative journalism, a diverse media ecosystem, and an active civil society sector, which serve as a basis for resilience in the face of foreign media influence,” it says.
China has increased investments to win over foreign audiences in several countries.
The strategy dubbed soft power has been reinforced by China’s government, especially after 2020.
A survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes shows that negative opinions about the country reached historic levels after the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For most respondents of various nationalities, China has done a poor job dealing with the emergence of Covid-19.
In addition, Xi Jinping’s approval ratings among respondents from the most advanced economies were down.
Chinese soft power tools include promoting the country’s culture with cultural exchanges in education and research, economic cooperation, and the use of media for political messages.
However, these media outlets are criticized for their less-than-impartial coverage of the Chinese dictatorship, distorting information, and promoting narratives against governments of other countries in defense of Beijing’s interests.
STUDY SAYS CHINA HAS TURNED THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC INTO AN OPPORTUNITY
The study ‘The Covid-19 Story: Unmasking China’s Global Strategy’, commissioned by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), showed that the coronavirus pandemic was cleverly transformed from a problem into an opportunity by China.
This is even after Beijing adopted authoritarian quarantine policies that violated citizens’ freedoms and had negative economic effects worldwide.
In the strategy, the Xi Jinping government activated its overseas information dissemination channels to flood foreign media with domestic and international news offerings in local languages, seeding positive stories about how it managed the pandemic.
The research report identified a more interventionist approach by Beijing, with increased exposure of embassies and ambassadors in those countries.
“Ambassadors have become more active, voicing criticism of local media coverage and even about politics, thus strengthening China’s influence in the media beyond its borders,” the survey conducted in 50 countries highlighted.
The survey showed, for example, that recipient countries of vaccines developed by China were the most likely to treat the pandemic approach positively.
The influence was seen most positively in Africa, where half of the respondents believe it is beneficial, and in many countries use Chinese vaccines.
All of the Africans interviewed by the study reported a visible presence of the country in the local press, and half said that coverage of China became more positive after Covid.
Three-quarters of them said they saw content cooperation with Chinese entities as positive.
But according to analysts, the actual number of deaths in China from the pandemic will probably never be known.
In 2021, Chinese state TV content was banned from the UK for breaching local media control laws, which prevent ownership of vehicles by political parties.
Australia and Germany followed suit, with sanctions and suspensions on the broadcaster.
With information from Gazeta do Povo