Over the last few weeks, the world has observed a grand PR campaign from Beijing, an attempt to shift the global narrative in China’s favor by touting its containment of COVID-19 as the successful outcome of its political model.
The outgoing message is that China’s anti-coronavirus campaign “demonstrated the notable advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” and that Singapore, Japan and South Korea “based their responses on the experience and lessons drawn from China’s successful battle with the virus.”
The other core message within China’s narrative is that “China has acted as a responsible big country” in playing a leadership role to combat the virus based on President Xi Jinping’s concept of a “Community of Shared Future for Mankind.”