China can be a useful bogeyman in American politics

CHINA wants more sway over how the world thinks.

The country’s latest Five-Year Plan, announced in March, aims to achieve a major leap in China’s international influence. This often manifests on social media as cute videos of pandas or futuristic ones of high-speed trains.

But China’s leaders see the broader effort as crucial. It is needed, in China’s official formulation, to counter Western biases so as to win the “battle for global public opinion” and “safeguard national interests”.