International Law

Thumbs Up For PLA?s PR Initiative

By Stan

I’m going to go out on a limb on this one, but hear me out. The People’s Liberation Army has certainly been on the receiving end of some bad press in the West since 1949. Probably the Korean War had something to do with it, and since then, it’s been all downhill.

What with all the accusations of spying, aggressive behavior, and carrying on with various illicit (and legal) enterprises, the PLA could use a better image. And as luck would have it, someone in the government has come to the rescue (from the AP):

China’s military is training propaganda teams for the first time to explain its actions to the outside world, as the traditionally insular and secretive force engages more with other countries’ militaries and deploys its ships and personnel abroad.

An initial class of 51 officers graduated this week in an effort to “raise the opinion-forming ability of the force’s foreign propaganda team and advance the innovation and development of the military propaganda work,” the official People’s Liberation Army Daily reported Friday.

The two-week training course included classes dealing with China’s recent dispatch of ships to carry out anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, as well as joint China-India anti-terror drills and other international missions, it said.

Course work included mock news conferences with reporters from the PLA Daily and the official Xinhua News Agency, the PLA Daily said.

In all seriousness, this is a good idea. Large nations use their armed forces, and PR is half the battle these days. Look at how crappy the PR battle was waged over the Iraq War and you begin to see how important this is.

I do find it amusing, however, to think about a classroom full of old-school military propaganda guys, who let’s face it have had it pretty easy for decades, being challenged to think outside the box and actually sway public (domestic and international) opinion. This must really be a strange concept, and I’d love to know how this new policy has been received by the old guard.

I know that the China Threat wackos in D.C. will see this as some sort of sinister plot. But then again, they see everything as a sinister plot and probably find subversive messages in their fortune cookies.

© Stan for China Hearsay, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us

Full post as published by China Hearsay on March 23, 2009 (boomark / email).