China’s Window to the World: How Media Platforms Communicate about Foreign Affairs

The escalating geopolitical tensions, coupled with the growing interconnectedness of global media platforms, have sparked a significant increase in cross-national communication. This talk delves into the intricacies of narrative dynamics within US-China relations and East Asian geopolitics. Utilizing extensive data sourced from a diverse array of media platforms in China, the U.S., and South Korea, the talk intends to examine how media platforms communicate about foreign affairs and their interactions within the global media landscape. Through this inquiry, the aim is to shed light on the processes by which national narratives are formulated and contested, and their implications for geopolitical relations. 

Kaiping Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Tsinghua University. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University and is an incoming Harvard-Yenching Visiting Scholar. Dr. Zhang’s research explores how communication processes shape deliberative democracy practices, Chinese politics, public opinion, and policymaking. Her scholarly contributions have appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals in both Chinese and English. She has received multiple awards for her research, notably the Top Paper Award from the Division of Political Communication at the 73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association.