China’s discourse power: instruments and strategy

Abstract

Today China actively participates in shaping the international political agenda, norms, and rules for interaction between states. This activity is a part of the PRC's policy to strengthen its international discourse power. Despite the fact that there are many studies of China's propaganda politics, discourse power remains outside the focus of researchers both in Russian and English-speaking communities. The term has varying interpretations and translations in non-Chinese academic literature. In this regard, the article examines the meaning of this term and answers questions – how, why, and for what purpose does the PRC implement its discourse power. The article analyzes research literature and documents in Russian, English, and Chinese languages regarding the discourse power, the origin, and the development of the term in Chinese discourse, and using it as a political task. The article studies the main departments and organizations responsible for the formation of the discourse power, as well as tools and mechanisms for its implementation. The author identifies “soft” and “hard” variants of China's discourse power, explains the difference in their goals and methods via giving examples from the PRC's foreign policy. The author concludes that the need for discourse power, which combines various methods of China's policy, is due to the acute internal political struggle, and the country's new ambitions in the international arena. The development of discourse power as a political phenomenon is fueled by the ideas of opposition to the “West”. In this regard, discourse power is becoming one of the most important counterweapons in competition between China and the United States.