Muted Backlash: Chinese Repression, Media Coverage, and Global Public Opinion

Abstract

This study investigates the relevance of China's foreign aid on global public opinion about China at politically salient times, i.e., when the Chinese government represses dissenting citizens. Based on large-scale multinational surveys with 26,083 respondents in 43 countries, we compare public opinion about China shortly before and after each of the four major repression incidents. To uncover the mechanisms, we also examine the contents of 46,040 news articles from the surveyed countries. The results reveal that the negative effects of repressive events on the approval of the job performance of China's leadership are significantly attenuated among citizens in Chinese aid-recipient countries. The media's sentiment toward China in these countries became more positive following the repression incidents. Case studies suggest that the media in these countries actively emphasize China's economic contributions. These findings imply that China's domestic repression of dissent may exacerbate the polarization in global public opinion, deepening the divide between pro-China and anti-China camps.

Keywords: foreign public opinion, China, foreign aid, foreign investment, repression, polarization

JEL Classification: F34, F35, F50, P33