Abstract

The COVID-19 spread rapidly and infects many countries which caused China to receive criticism from several countries, one of which is the United States, which accused China of being the source of the outbreak and hid the information about the outbreak of the Coronavirus. This makes China do everything possible to counter the accusations that they are the source of the outbreak and try to rebuild its positive image. China started conducting digital diplomacy through Twitter, which we will call ‘Chinese Twiplomacy’. This study aims to examine China’s efforts to counter negative narratives during COVID-19 pandemic. It finds that China has been used bot accounts to boost their persona online by multiple strategies such as donations of medical supplies overseas to frame its image as a responsible global leader and offering some cash to the Chinese influencers to post positive messages.

Keywords

COVID-19, China, Twitter, Twiplomacy, “Wolf-Warriors”.

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Irene Rahafi