The Voice of China in Africa. Development Models and Communication Strategies.

In the past decade much has been written on China?s increasing importance and growing influence in Africa. So far most of the research has focused on different dimensions of China's economic engagement such as trade, investments and development finance, oil and natural resources and infrastructure, but also on Chinese migration. There has been less work on the role of the expanding Chinese engagement on the African continent in media, communications and public diplomacy. This has often been referred as the "soft power" dimension of China's Africa policy. A critical discussion of the concept of "soft power" was central during the first year of the Voice of China in Africa project. Comparative studies of China's Africa policy was also undertaken and the data collection of China's engagement in Angola, Mozambique and Uganda began. This included data collection of the media coverage of China in these three countries. While acknowledging that the concept of "soft power" is being widely used, the researchers involved in the project are also sceptical about its usefulness as an explanatory term for analysing Chinese investments in communication industries, as well as projects in journalism and other forms of media projects, or Chinese development aid to Africa. Since the start up the project participants has participated and presented papers at select international conferences: "Communicating Soft Power. Contrasting Perspectives from India and China" at The University of Westminster, London, September 8 and 9 2013, and "China's Soft Power in Africa: emerging media and cultural relations between China and Africa" at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China on Sept. 3 and 4, 2014. The project organised three conferences in 2014 which brought together a range of scholars from China and Africa and elsewhere. This was made possible by additional funding from the Norwegian embassies in Uganda and Beijing (the conference in Maputo below was fully funded by the project): In Kampala Feb 6, 2014 on "China's engagement in Uganda: Media, culture and telecommunication"; in Maputo Feb 19 and 20, 2014 on "The Voice of China in Africa"; and in Beijing Sept. 10 and 11, 2014 on "China and Africa. Media, Communications and Public Diplomacy". During the time that the project has been running it has become clearer that an important element of China's investments in Africa is in telecommunications, not least through companies such as Huawei and ZTE. In 2015 much of the work in the project has thus focused on developments in communication industries. June 12 - 13, 2015 the project was co-organiser with the Chinese University of Communication of a conference on China-Africa communications in Bejing. In December 2015 the project will in conjunction with a workshop in Maputo on the results of the project co-organise a conference with our Mozambican partner IESE on the status of China's influence in Africa. Part of the focus will be the role of the Chinese telecommunications industry. In 2016 the project leader and the Mozambican researcher in the project Dr. Sérgio Chichava gave a presentation at a seminar in Maputo in October organised by the Mozambican partner IESE on the project. Senior Researcher Elling Tjønneland and Professor Helge Rønning has participated in meetings and been interviewed on China's role in Africa in the press and in Norwegian broadcasting. Post.doc. Li Shubo is in the process of finishing a book on "Mediatized China-Africa Relations. How Media Discourses Negotiate the Shifting of Global Order."

Project summary The Voice of China in Africa aims at researchig how China interacts with Africa in the areas of communication, media, and cultural development. Key areas are: 1) How the Chinese telecommunications company StarTimes invest and operate in I CTs and digital broadcasting, contextualised by China's engagement in African media and communication industries. Chinese developments in the area have been remarkable and StarTimes offers cheap and efficient services. 2) The role of cultural and journali stic promoters, e.g. the Confucius Institutes and Xinhua News Agency on both the African and the Chinese scene. 3. How China attempts to improve its image in Africa. 4) To examine how African societies perceive China's involvement in the continent. The en gagement in journalism and media aims to strengthen China's 'soft power'. 5) This will be compared to the perception that Chinese investors and journalists have of Africa and how China's interests in Africa is expressed in Chinese media. 6) To identify ar eas of strategic importance to strengthening and challenges of pro-democracy processes in Africa under the new circumstance of Chinese presence, particularly as regards the role of media and communication, as China's expansion in Africa implies a challeng e to accepted development models based on transparency, good governance and democratic values. 7. Uganda, Mozambique and Angola exemplify different and similar experiences with Chinese involvement and lend themselves to comparative case studies. The multi disciplinary research will have its basis in theories of media and democratisation; development theory and development communication; political economy of the media; international relations linked to globalisation theories, and media discourse analysis an d framing theory. Three qualitative methods are set to cross-examine the topic: Discourse analyses of media debates, Media-ethnographic fieldwork involving participatory observation, and in depth interviews.