CITW 2022 Open Sessions Introduction
Introduction
The dust has well and truly settled on the three-day whirlwind that was China in the World 2022 in Berlin last year. We once again thank all the participants and attendees for their support, and in this post take the opportunity to reflect on some of the public sessions that you may have missed. If anything, the intervening six months has proved how timely and prescient our presenters were with their choice of topics, whether that be the transnational repression of the Chinese diaspora, or importance of disinformation in shaping ideological narratives, or the difficulties in arriving at a coherent European-China policy.
Please take a moment to review the talks and discussions below and visit our YouTube channel through the links provided to refresh your memory or explore new ideas for the first time.
December 6th
MEP Reinhard Bütikofer’s Keynote
How can Europe avoid falling into a dependency trap with China?
In a special address, Reinhard Bütikofer, who is a co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and a member of the European parliament, spoke on the topic of how Europe can avoid repeating the mistake made with Russia of falling into dependency on an authoritarian regime.
EU-China relationships
In keeping with Berlin’s role as host of CITW 2022, this session looked at Hong Kong’s role as an economic hub in influencing Germany’s position on the EU’s relationship with China. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), a CITW regional partner, also shared an ongoing project to visualize China’s footprint of projects in the Balkans.
How Hong Kong is used to whitewash Germany-EU-China relations
Economic ties between Hong Kong and Germany deeply impact the Germany-China and EU-China relationship, leading to reluctance on behalf of Germany and other EU states to severely criticize China’s human rights violations, including those in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Watch’s Anouk Wear proposed policy recommendations that focus on reducing Hong Kong’s role in enabling this whitewashing.
China in the Balkans
Ivana Nikolic of the BIRN shared takeaways from the network’s research on instances of cooperation and investment between China and various countries in the region, as well as an ongoing project to visualize these arrangements via an interactive map: https://china.balkaninsight.com/
Overseas Chinese
As the issue of transnational repression garners increasing attention among Western lawmakers, Doublethink Lab led sessions investigating the reality of China’s efforts to persecute Hong Kongers overseas, and the factors that influence Chinese diaspora communities’ propensity to agree with CCP propaganda. The final session returned the focus to Hong Kong, and efforts by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) to promote global legal accountability on the city’s behalf.
Hong Kong transnational repression
Research analyst Ai-men Lau (劉羿雯) and colleague Chia Yuan Hsu their 2022 Doublethink Lab Hong Kong report examining three key facets of the post-National Security Law pro-democracy movement: the information environment and disinformation, threats and harassment facing overseas Hong Kongers, and the challenges facing the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.
Doublethink Lab will also present training conducted for overseas Hong Kongers and organizations, and how we determined what type of training was needed.
Analyzing Chinese diaspora communities who agree with CCP propaganda
Doublethink Lab social researcher Roy Ngerng presented a survey conducted among Chinese diaspora communities in Malaysia and New Zealand that shows how local factors, including attitudes and perspectives towards their society, government and democracy, influences attitudes towards CCP propaganda.
Advocating for legal accountability regarding Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s presence in international media seems to have faded after the city’s national security law was passed in 2020. Some seem to believe that the city is now a lost cause. Is resistance still happening? Do avenues for advocacy on behalf of the city still exist?
Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC)’s Chung Ching Kwong probed these questions in relation to the experience of IPAC, a network of over 200 politicians focusing on China from 30 legislatures. IPAC has been advocating for legal accountability with regards Hong Kong, and has launched various campaigns to support the city.
China in Asia
CITW 2022 dialed down the focus on Asia, but still found time to analyze the relationship between Pakistan, the country most influenced by China according to the 2022 China Index, and the PRC. As the US and European countries continue to look to bolster their Indo-Pacific alliances,
The affair between the dragon and the markhor
Pakistan was once a strong American partner in South Asia. But as that relationship soured, Islamabad has moved into a tighter embrace with Beijing. What’s driving this love-affair? Veteran Pakistani journalist Shahzeb Jillani delivered the lowdown on one of China’s closest bilateral relationships.
Impact of Indo-Pacific Geopolitics on China-Southeast Asia Relations
Khoo Ying Hooi, Senior Lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya, kicked off by asking how, as the U.S.-China strategic competition intensifies, ASEAN’s role in the Indo-Pacific is coming under scrutiny and the concept of the Indo-Pacific itself is now the subject of a tug of war between external powers.
December 7th
Taiwan on the frontline
Taiwan-based civil society advocates shared inspiring and informative stories of resistance to PRC efforts to destabilize its democracy through economic leverage and disinformation.
How Taiwanese society copes with China’s economic duress via democratic defense and citizen action
Syu Guan-Ze ( 許冠澤) and Angela (Hsu-Shao) Ou of Taiwanese civil society organization Economic Democracy Union shared how China uses economic leverage to fulfil its political ambitions in Taiwan, and showed how civil society threatened by China can establish a “democracy defense system”.
Disinformation during Pelosi’s APAC visit
Hui-An Ho, head of international projects and fact-checker at the non-profit Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC), based in Germany, shared TFC’s work during former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to APAC and Taiwan in early August, exposing how the Associated Press facilitated the publication of a false, Xinhua-originated narrative that was widely used by well-known international media.
China in Africa
CITW 2022 placed a particular emphasis on exploring the PRC’s role in Africa, in keeping with the network’s commitment to raising awareness and understanding of PRC efforts to influence the global south. The politics of debt and the importance of the media’s influence on ideology took centerstage.
Unmasking China’s non-interference ‘principle’ as malign influence: a Zambian case study
Emmanuel Matambo, Research Director at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Africa-China Studies, traced the evolution of Zambia-China relations, from their ideological genesis to the current, more pragmatic era characterized by China’s growing influence throughout several changes of government, unmasking and debunking China’s claim that its non-interference “principle” is sacrosanct.
Media vulnerabilities to PRC influence in 3 African countries
Chris Roper, Amanda Strydom and Justin Arenstein of Code for Africa, the continent’s largest federation of civic technology and data journalism labs, showcased research from roundtables with media professionals into the mechanisms which the PRC has used to influence the media in South Africa, Kenya and Zambia. They discussed examples of how influence operations contribute to the erosion of media freedoms, such as the provision of state media to African news organizations, and how media vulnerabilities are exploited by the PRC.
African Perspectives on China’s media engagement on the continent
Arthur Kaufman (formerly under the pen name “Oliver Young”), editor at China Digital Times, Dr. Greg Gondwe, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Journalism at California State University — San Bernardino, and Lina Benabdallah, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University, imagined the future of China-Africa media initiatives from African perspectives. The overarching theme was how African actors can benefit on their own terms from China’s increasing media engagement on the continent.
China in the Ukraine-Russia war
As China seeks to convince the world it holds the key to negotiating peace in Ukraine, the issue of Beijing’s true stance on the war has never been so poignant. Speakers in this session explored how the PRC shapes the narrative on the war in traditional and social media, as well as the geopolitical fallout of Russia’s diminished eminence in Central Asia.
Mediated influence: How Chinese-language media in Australia reported the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Dr Lennon Chang, Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, examined how Chinese-language media in Australia reported the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine in the first 100 days. Dr Chang contended that understanding China’s media influence requires interrogation of media ownership, social networks and economic flows, and calls for more collaborative methods and socially engaged research projects.
The Importance of ‘Little Pinks’ in PRC information manipulation
Tim Niven, Research Lead at Doublethink Lab, argued for the value of analyzing PRC patriotic accounts, also called “Little Pinks,” in the study of PRC information manipulation. Niven demonstrated technological advances made at Doublethink Lab to facilitate analyzing networks of Little Pinks on Chinese-language Twitter, and discussed the future development of this analytical capacity to other platforms and languages.
Shifting loyalties: Central Asian states lean towards China in light of Ukraine war
Ani Kintsurashvili of Civic IDEA, a Georgian NGO and civil society institution, presented her analysis of changing policies of the Central Asia states — a case of China’s long-term and systematic work paying off. Since the start of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, loyalties have leaned more towards China, as opposed to Russia, with important implications for future engagement in the region.
December 8th
China in the World — EU Dialogue
Doublethink Lab and the German Marshall Fund co-hosted a double-header of events looking at the future of China policy in Germany and Europe.
Q&A with Frank Müller-Rosentritt (MdB, FDP): Where should Germany’s China policy go from here?
Andrew Small, a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund’s Asia Program and author of the book, “No Limits: the Inside Story of China’s War with the West”, ed a question and answer session with Frank Müller-Rosentritt, a member of the German Bundestag who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee and is the Free Democratic Party (FDP)’s standing rapporteur for China and Asia, on the future of Germany’s China policy.
10:45–12:00
Panel: Towards a more constructive European China policy
Andrew Small of the German Marshall Fund moderated a panel with Ana Krstinovska, President of the North Macedonian think tank and consultancy ESTIMA, Dr. Gudrun Wacker, Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Katja Drinhausen, Head of Program, Politics & Society at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), and Martin Hála, Founder and Director of Sinopsis. Their discussion focused on how European policymakers should respond to China’s rising influence and cultivate more constructive ties with Beijing.
China Index 2022 Media Launch
Doublethink Lab and CITW unveiled China Index 2022 results and shared related insights.
China Index 2022 launch
Doublethink Lab launched the China Index 2022, the first attempt to measure and compare China’s influence around the world, unveiling rankings for 82 countries online. Doublethink Lab Chairperson Puma Shen presented key research takeaways, exposing patterns of PRC influence at play in different regions and country clusters, highlighting areas of resilience, and drilling down into takeaways relating to PRC influence across nine Domains, including economy, foreign policy and media.
China Index 2022 country perspectives — expert panel
China in the World partners for Germany (Didi Kirsten Tatlow), the UK (Martin Thorley), Pakistan (Shahzeb Jillani) and Ukraine (Sorin Ionita) shared experiences and takeaways from collecting China Index data. A global line-up of China experts were also on hand, including CITW partners from Central America & the Caribbean, Central Asia, East & Southeast Asia, Europe, Asia, North Africa & West Asia, North America, Oceania, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
