Wednesday, January 25, 2023 from 2:00PM – 2:45PM (ET)
Online Only
Event Description:
The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) is pleased to invite you to a conversation with Joshua Kurlantzick on his new book, Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World. For over two decades, global observers have sought to analyze and understand the economic and security dynamics of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) rapid rise as an international power. While these efforts were undoubtedly significant, they have consistently failed to account for the rising role of media and soft power in Beijing’s strategy. As the PRC has emerged as a powerful and dynamic force on the world stage, it has increasingly used media and information and communications technology to advance its interests. Deploying a vast array of domestic and international tools, China has engaged in a concerted effort to push its narratives and influence public opinion on a global scale. In Beijing’s Global Media Offensive, Kurlantzick works to shed light on this increasingly crucial element of Chinese power, tracing the PRC’s growing web of influence and examining its tactics, objectives, and ideology. What tools does China utilize in its campaign to project its influence? What are the primary narratives that it seeks to push, and how successful has it been in doing so? Which countries are targeted by these operations, and how are they responding? This conversation will cover these questions and many more.
This event will be moderated by GTI Executive Director Russell Hsiao.
The event will be broadcast live on our website and YouTube beginning at 2:00 PM. Please RSVP here if you are interested in participating. Questions from registered viewers will be prioritized by the moderator.Please direct questions or concerns to Program Manager Marshall Reid at mreid@globaltaiwan.org.
The Author:
Joshua Kurlantzick is senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He was previously a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he studied Southeast Asian politics and economics and China’s relations with Southeast Asia, including Chinese investment, aid, and diplomacy. Additionally, he served as a fellow at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and a fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy. He is currently focused on China’s relations with Southeast Asia, and China’s approach to soft and sharp power, including state-backed media and information efforts and other components of soft and sharp power. He is also working on issues related to the rise of global populism, populism in Asia, and the impact of COVID-19 on illiberal populism and political freedom overall.
The Moderator:
Russell Hsiao is the executive director of GTI, senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, and adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum. He is a former Penn Kemble fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia. He previously served as a senior research fellow at The Project 2049 Institute and National Security fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Prior to those positions he was the editor of China Brief at The Jamestown Foundation from October 2007 to July 2011 and a special associate in the International Cooperation Department at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. While in law school, he clerked within the Office of the Chairman at the Federal Communications Commission and the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center at the Office of the US Trade Representative. Hsiao received his JD and certificate from the Law and Technology Institute at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Catholic University’s Journal of Law and Technology. He received a BA in international studies from the American University’s School of International Service and the University Honors Program.