Date: Monday November 25, 2024

Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Location: LIB1117

Speaker: Dr. Zhao Alexandre Huang, Associate Professor in Information and Communication Sciences at the Université Gustave Eiffel

Abstract

This study investigates how China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) use social media platforms to shape their respective narratives and advance their international interests in the Asia-Pacific region. We compared China’s and ASEAN’s use of X (ex-Twitter) to frame their respective diplomatic relations and representations concerning the South China Sea. The findings show that stakeholders from both sides exhibited a degree of caution in leveraging the affordances of social media to frame geopolitical relations and address the South China Sea issue. While Beijing’s narratives regarding China-ASEAN relations and the South China Sea issue often pointed out contradictions in or criticized Western geopolitical expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, they generally featured a moderate and amicable tone when engaging with ASEAN. Conversely, certain ASEAN accounts featured narrative strategies that directly criticized China’s geopolitical actions in the region.

Bio

Dr. Zhao Alexandre Huang is an Associate Professor in Information and Communication Sciences at the Université Gustave Eiffel, and the inaugural CPD-SIF Southeast Asia Research Fellow. His research interests include public diplomacy, strategic communication, political public relations, social media, international communication, and digital diaspora diplomacy strategy.