Mediated Public Diplomacy Of B&R In Europe: The Dynamics Between Government Agenda And Media Agenda

The Belt and Road Initiative(B&R)is currently China's national policy.The Chinese government not only needs but also is vigorously carrying out diplomatic activities with regard to the B&R.Simultaneously,Media is also making concerted efforts to help the initiative seek the recognition of foreign audiences.Europe is a competitor and cooperator of the“Chinese Dream”,while it is also one of centers of the Western politics and public opinion.It has thus become an important object of diplomacy and propaganda of the B&R.The concept of mediated public diplomacy originated in the West and it aims to explore how the media can participate in diplomacy.Based on the characteristic of Chinese media and government,as well as the so-called cooperativeness of the B&R,this paper aims to prob into the interaction between the Chinese government agenda,the Chinese media agenda,and the European media agenda under the framework of agenda building and agenda setting theories.Thus,it can explore the status quo and effects of the B&R's mediating public diplomacy carried out in Europe.In regard to the agenda building processes of the B&R in Europe,there are four characteristics as follows.First,“big events” between Chinese and European governments draw media attention and cause surges of reporting volume.Second,increasing China-EU cooperation led to the enhancement of reporting intensity of the B&R,thus it has become a regulatory topic on European media.Third,the active participation of think tanks helps convey elaborated policy clarification and critical thinking about the B&R to the Europeans,while assisting the government to make decisions.Fourth.With the participation of different groups,the European media gradually changed its position as an “outsider” and considered the B&R as a topic closely connected to its self-interest.As far as how the Chinese government conducts diplomacy through the media,it differs for different medias.As for Chinese media,Chinese government mainly takes the state media as channels to issue official information such as government announcements,diplomatic “ big events ” reports,leaders' speeches and signed articles abroad,and so does in on overseas social platforms.Besides,by virtue of the B&R Media Cooperation Forum,Chinese media has conducted in-depth cooperation with foreign media.However,as for European media,Chinese government can only exert limited influence on it.It mainly uses European media as a channel for information release and news reporting.Thus,except for examining the dynamics between government and media,it's also necessary to explore the relationship between medias,which serves to deepen our understanding among Chinese government and media,and European media.Results show that the commons and differences of the Chinese and European media agendas coexist.Two agendas are weakly related to each other with regard t reporting intensity,moderately related in terms of topics,and significantly related for countries and regions involved.The data of the article's relevance,cooperation and organization mentioned,sources of quotations,and positions did not pass the correlation test.In other words,Chinese media can,to a certain extent,set the content of the European media agenda,but with regard to the overall agenda,it's still limited.In short,towards B&R's media diplomacy,the Chinese government mainly uses the media as a channel for information transmission.Moreover,Chinese government has considerable control and influence over Chinese media,whereas that over European media is relatively limited.However,Chinese media also can play initiative in media diplomacy as it not only represents the government in conducting dialogic and cooperative media diplomacy,but also sets European media agenda to a certain extent.