China’s Twiplomacy in Europe in the Shadow of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Twitter is one of the key platforms of China’s external communication. In her study, published by CHOICE sister project MapInfluenCE, Veronika Blablová analyzes the activity of Twitter accounts of China’s embassies in European countries during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The paper thus contributes to the wider debate on China’s behavior on Twitter as it addresses previously unanswered questions regarding the coordination of the embassy accounts.

The study, titled China’s Twiplomacy in Europe in the Shadow of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, maps the narratives that China’s embassy accounts spread in Europe in the context of the war in Ukraine. Special attention is devoted to the Chinese embassies in V4 countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The author of the study looks at the evolution of China’s Twitter presence in Europe, patterns of content posting, engagement, the level of interaction with the local actors and the discourses disseminated on the issue of the Russian invasion.