International Political Communication And Identity Publication

As a major branch of political communication,international political communication represents a time-honored type of political practice.There have been not a few cases in the history of international relations in which ruling powers exerted influence on the direction of international politics via international political communication.The more drastic changes that take place in the global landscape,the stronger influence that international political communication will have on the direction of international politics.At present,as the international political landscape is undergoing profound adjustments and reforms,emerging powers such as China have greater demand for improving their means of international political communication and gaining a greater say,and it is increasingly possible that they would achieve this goal.Emerging nations must carry out in-depth studies into the theory and practice of international political communication if they are to resist the discourse hegemony of ruling powers,to enhance their discourse capacity,and to strengthen their international competitiveness.Nevertheless,however,studies on theories and strategies in this field,as conducted by international relations scholars,are obviously insufficient.And there has been a severe imbalance between the demand and supply of theories.It is of vital importance to emerging powers such as China that they establish a relatively complete and systematic system of the theory of international political communication,and that they find a discourse approach to explaining and guiding the practice of international political communication.Such efforts will be conducive not only to gaining understanding and support abroad,but also to reaching wider consensus and greater solidarity at home.International political communication is the international transmission of message that is guided,supported,or allowed by the government,that has specific political motives,and that is aimed at realizing the country's mainstream political intentions.Its actors include domestic communicator,international audience,and general public at home.International political communication consists of four links: preparation,implementation,message interpretation,and interaction.In this process,the shaping of message at the ideational level guides the production of message by the media;when the message produced by the media is transmitted to the audience,the latter would interpret the message according to their own understanding,and,when necessary,re-produce and re-transmit the message in various ways,which would possibly change or reshape the ways that communicators in the first two links think and express their ideas.Through theoretical and practical explorations into international political communication,the author argues that national identity and discourse of international political communication are mutually constructing.National identity defines the contents,features,and means of international political communication,while the discourse of international political communication constructs national identity.Therefore,correcting the mistaken cognition of national identity has a decisive bearing on ensuring effective international political communication.On this basis,the author coins the concept of “identity correction,” which refers to correcting the widely spread or traditional mistaken cognition of the national identity of one's own country or other countries.With regard to the strategies of international political communication,the author argues that the logic of identity correction is subordinate to a country's mainstream political intentions,but its grammar should be relatively independent.If the mainstream political intentions of a country changes as the times change,the national identity that needs to be constructed through communication would change accordingly.When conducting identity correction,communicators should be adept at using the discourse strategies of persuasion and inducement,address misconception in various forms,and make use of supporting measures related to education and academic studies,with a view to ensuring the realization of the country's mainstream political intentions.Conducting a profound analysis of the international discourse regarding China-Africa cooperation and the political motives and political intentions reflected in it,we would be better able to learn how to safeguard our national interest through identity correction in the changing times.Meanwhile,in today's world,the development of Internet and new media has remarkably changed the landscape of international political communication,thus exerting profound influence on the theory and practice of identity correction.Therefore,it is necessary that we objectively assess the role that Internet and new media play in international political communication in a changing world.