Borrowing microphones: the instrumentalisation of media partnerships in China’s public diplomacy efforts in Latin America

Abstract

This article examines the role of media partnerships in China’s public diplomacy efforts to reshape its perception in Latin America. It analyses four cases of collaboration between Chinese media organisations and their partners in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela. The study investigates the nature of these partnerships, the dynamics between the collaborators, and the discourses emerging from the co-produced programmes to advance China’s soft power in the region. The findings reveal a subtle asymmetry, where Latin American voices are included primarily when they contribute to constructing a positive narrative about China’s rise on the continent. Comparable to ‘borrowing microphones’, these media partnerships function as an extended platform for Beijing to disseminate key ideological concepts, such as the ‘community of shared destiny for humankind’, while reshaping China’s image as a champion of free trade and globalisation, in opposition to protectionism and unilateralism.