Complicating China’s Soft Power: Maria Repnikova on China’s Image-Making Efforts in Ethiopia

In this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy talks with Communications Professor Maria Repnikova of Georgia State University. She explains how China seeks to build influence in Africa through tangible enticements, ideational power, and defensive image-making. Although she points to a variety of areas of success, Repnikova also highlights the ways in which China is encountering obstacles to expanding its influence. She concludes that China is not effectively “exporting” its model of governance to countries in the Global South. The discussion also covers her experiences of carrying out fieldwork in the two countries, where she found both important similarities and differences. Maria Repnikova, an expert on Chinese political communication, is an Associate Professor in Global Communication, and the inaugural William C. Pate Chair in Strategic Communication at Georgia State University. She is the author of Competing for Soft Power: China’s Image-Making in Africa (2026), Chinese Soft Power (2022), and the award-winning Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism (2017), all from Cambridge University Press. . Her writings have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Atlantic, as well as in many academic journals. Dr. Repnikova holds a doctorate in politics from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She is a recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Wilson Fellowship (2020-2021).