Reuters today gave a really interesting analysis of press guidance related to he “trade war” being discussed in every other paper outside China. Reuters says this was “unusually strict” but I guess that depends on your perspective. They are strict on a lot of things.
They do this regularly and are very specific in what can be said about certain things e.g. certain stories, particularly violent or sexually explicit ones, cannot be covered at all, or can only issue reports written by a single office. “Use only official accounts about the man who killed his wife and ran off with the opera singer” is the kind of thing issued every day.
The gist of this guidance is interesting because it pertains to the negotiations on trade that everyone thinks is being driven by the Trump Administration putting tariffs on Chinese goods. The Chinese have managed perceptions on this as they always do. The world hardly hears the US issue with these tariffs. Poor China, besieged by Washington, trying to behave rationally and calmly to these threats.
That tells me that something is going on behind the scenes and maybe some of the things that the Trump folks say about the negotiations might be true. The Chinese are worried about stories stoking up fears in China’s own economy: “ ‘Media outlets must help “stabilize the economy, growth, employment, stabilize foreign trade, investment, finance, stabilize the stock market, the foreign exchange market, the housing market, and basically stabilize the peoples’ thinking, hearts and expectations’, it said.” Perhaps the Trump Administration is having more of an effect than the Chinese want to admit.
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