The BRI and China’s Soft Power in Europe: Why Chinese Narratives (Initially) Won

Abstract

The article aims to contribute to our understanding of China’s soft power in Europe and the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in this regard. We conduct analyses of two leading newspapers in the United Kingdom, in Spain, and in Poland to discover how the BRI was framed there in the period from mid-2013 to mid-2017. The empirical results show that the media reported about the initiative quite positively – especially compared to the general media picture of China in Europe – and to a considerable extent followed Chinese narratives of economic opportunities while overlooking geopolitical and security worries. Theories of “journalistic routines” and linguistic “affective sticking points” will be suggested as possible explanations of these dynamics, highlighting both the fact that Chinese narratives outnumbered European ones in the initial period quantitatively, and were able to offer something that resonated with the audience qualitatively.