This study investigates the impact of exposure to China’s digital diplomacy agenda in Africa on social media users. A mixed-methods approach of 1681 tweets scraped from the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Africa Department, and a survey of 308 Burundian respondents following at least one of the Chinese diplomatic institution’s Twitter/X accounts was employed. Based on the agenda-building framework in digital diplomacy, the results indicate that China predominantly frames itself as a decolonial power of Africa, prioritizing international relations and economic partnerships while downplaying security issues. Exposure to China’s digital diplomacy significantly influences respondents’ perceptions and engagement positively. As a soft power tool, Chinese education emerged as a direct influence on these outcomes. However, its moderating role was insignificant, revealing that Chinese education initiatives don’t change how exposure to digital diplomacy affects Burundian followers’ perceptions and engagement. This study represents a pioneering empirical investigation of China’s Africa-focused digital diplomacy and its impact on African perceptions and engagement.
Vincent et al. (Tue,) studied this question.