I visited China last week as part of a delegation of government and media representatives at the invitation of China's Ambassador to Israel Zhan Yongxin. The 1.4 billion people who live in China are well aware that the world fears them. They believe that no matter what they do, they will be criticized by the international community. They are confident that the global media is doing them wrong, and the world just simply doesn't understand them.
But they are not sitting idly by, waiting for that to change: In addition to hosting delegations from Israel and other countries around the world, they are also offering a glimpse into their media world. Our delegation visited two of the main media outlets in the country: China Media Group is the country's largest media group, with radio broadcasts in no fewer than 44 languages, including Hebrew, and it aspires to branch out into social media. The group is government-owned.
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We later visited the Xinhua News agency, which has over 100 offices around the world. It is also government-owned. This is an organization the size of which is completely unheard of in Israel. Xinhua News uses artificial intelligence in order to identify news concerning various people and events around the world. No fewer than 30,000 figures at the center of news reporting are currently being monitored by artificial intelligence, and this is just the beginning.
To be honest, I couldn't help but wonder if Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry, with its large budget and the trust placed in it to wage, among other things, a covert and overt struggle against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, along with other types of anti-Israel activity, could learn a few things from the Chinese.
True, Israel is a democracy, and it is obligated to a system of democratic values โโand governing ethics. It is not authorized or interested in using all of the methods and tools that are acceptable in China. But we can certainly learn a few things from the Chinese, like their use of technology and systematic mobilization toward a national objective, which in Jerusalem's case, is the struggle against the delegitimization of Israel and fomenting a change in global public opinion about Israel.
Chinese public diplomacy is marked by a commitment to coordinated systemic activity, on one hand, and an openness to new and advanced technologies on the other. While that is exactly what we would expect from the start-up nation, it seems Israel is waging the war over its image through yesterday's means. Israel needs to define a national strategic plan for the next 10 to 20 years and create a coordinated campaign for public diplomacy activities that are tailored to the digital diplomacy age.
It may sound unrealistic for Israel to learn methods for fighting the war over public opinion from red China. But the fact is that the world is changing. It is in this context that China should serve not as a model for Israel but rather signal a new direction: It is vigorously engaged in what is certain to be the future diplomatic arena.
By the way, China is not the only country that uses means like news agencies or media outlets to influence global public opinion. Ultimately, this is Israel's playing field, and it is becoming more sophisticated and complex whether we are ready or not.
