Repression in China, Money from China, and Attitudes toward China

Abstract

This study investigates the relevance of China's foreign aid on foreign 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 or after each of the four repression incidents. To understand the mechanism, we also examine the contents of 46,040 news articles in surveyed countries. The results show that citizens in countries receiving China's foreign aid are less critical of China's political leader after repression compared to those in countries not receiving aid. The media's sentiment toward China is also more positive in these aid recipients after repression. Our case studies suggest that the media in those countries actively publish articles to highlight China's economic contributions to their economies. Our findings imply that domestic repression of dissidents in China may deepen the concerning trend of global polarization in public opinion between pro-China and anti-China camps.

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

JEL Classification: F34, F35, F50, P33