China’s Xinjiang propaganda and united front work in Turkey. Actors and content

0545047 - OÚ 2022 RIV FR eng J - Journal Article
Klimeš, Ondřej
China’s Xinjiang propaganda and united front work in Turkey. Actors and content.
Monde chinois. 2020/2, č. 62 (2020), s. 44-71. ISSN 1767-3755. E-ISSN 2271-1929
Grant - others:AV ČR LQ300211901
Program: Prémie Lumina quaeruntur
Institutional support: RVO:68378009
Keywords : Chinese communist party * Turkey * Xinjiang * propaganda * United Front Work * Belt and Road Initiative * Uyghurs
OECD category: Political science
Method of publishing: Limited access

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) comprehensively recast its governance in Xinjiang in 2016, its policies have impacted virtually all aspects of reality for Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic communities in the region. The Xinjiang crisis has become a major point of friction between part of the international community and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), obliging the CCP to devote considerable efforts to its containment. This article explores the actors and content of the propaganda and united front work the CCP carries out in Turkey to shape the public debate and affairs relating to Xinjiang. The research mostly investigates recent developments in Sino-Turkish ties, the communication of the PRC’s central actors with Turkish audiences, the CCP’s efforts to build ties with local political actors and co-opt their public discourse and media networks, the mechanisms of communication effected by official press tours of Turkish journalists to Xinjiang, and the CCP’s propaganda and united front work targeting Uyghurs living in Turkey, particularly businessmen and students. The discussion also situates the examined CCP actors within the respective systems (xitong) of governance. Finally, the article presents several instances of the CCP’s attempts to localize its propaganda and united front work by adopting the topic of Islam. The research draws on open textual sources and author’s interviews with Uyghur informants in Istanbul and Ankara in May, June, and August 2019.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0321824