Chinese diplomatic discourse for Europe: A change of style

Abstract

New means of information warfare are now used to achieve new goals, namely, cultural dominance and, as a result, control of other states and peoples. In this respect, more and more attention has recently been paid to the changing content and form of public communications by Chinese politicians, including diplomats. The article studies the speeches of Chinese ambassadors in key European countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, and Italy) on two issues for which Chinese policy has lately drawn most of the Western criticism: the situation in Hong Kong and the COVID-19 pandemic. To determine the dynamics of the diplomatic discourse, speeches made between 2013 and mid-2020 were selected for analysis. The study is novel in that it tests the comprehensive analysis methodology, in particular Michel Foucault’s concept of discourse in combination with Jacques Derrida’s concept of deconstruction. The analysis made points to the change in the style of the Chinese diplomats’ communication towards its “mediatization,” preference to appeal directly to the European media and general public, doing so skillfully and with scientific substantiation.