View from Beijing: The new soft power?

American YouTuber Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. got the rockstar treatment in China this spring. During a six-hour livestream from Shenzhen, the 20-year-old leapt into a Chinese SUV that can drive on water and screamed, as the car floated on a lake: “Oh my God, this car doesn’t sink — China has done it!”

The video — which also showed him marveling at Huawei’s latest foldable phones — amassed nearly 9 million views on YouTube. Within days, Watkins went from little-known in China to a social media sensation. State media outlets even simulcast his streams, hailing the wide-eyed Ohio native as an “authentic” voice showing the real China. Chinese fans flooded comment sections thanking him for “opening eyes” and countering prevailing Western narratives. Beijing gleefully celebrated Speed’s China lovefest as a soft-power win, complete with primetime state broadcaster segments and news headlines about him “livestreaming an unfiltered China.”

The contrast back in Washington was hard to miss. Even as IShowSpeed was trending daily on China’s tightly managed social media, US lawmakers were mired in debates over banning TikTok — the very kind of platform fueling his fame — on national security grounds. Now, as Trump reportedly plans extending the TikTok deadline again, Beijing is seizing on the moment — rolling out a state-backed program to fly in more foreign influencers, a strategy state media bills as showing the “real China” through relatable personalities. It’s a savvy new twist to China’s outreach, leveraging American internet stars to win hearts and minds online, even as the two superpowers spar over who controls the social media narrative.

The state-run All-China Youth Federation’s initiative is trying to build on that image-making coup with state-sponsored influencer program — in which Americans with at least 300,000 followers on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X can embark on a 10-day, all-expenses-paid journey through China’s most iconic cities. According to Chinese state media, influencers will collaborate with local creators, visit companies like BYD and Rednote, participate in cultural activities such as tai chi, and livestream visits to the Great Wall.

For many Americans, the idea of a state-backed influencer initiative immediately raises a (pardon the pun) red flag: They see China cultivating US public perception through American social media stars, blurring the line between influencers and foreign influence.

But from Beijing’s perspective, this initiative is fundamentally defensive. It hopes that the content generated through these exchanges will primarily highlight China’s cultural heritage, modern achievements, and societal progress. In contrast, Beijing would argue, the narratives produced by American-led media often focus on China’s alleged human rights abuses, geopolitical threats, and strategic ambitions. For Beijing, portraying a welcoming, modern, and culturally rich image is merely an effort to balance the global discourse, not to attack or undermine other nations.

And to many Chinese, yours truly included, the American worries also sound excessive and a bit hypocritical. The US has long used vast state resources to shape global public opinion and expand its geopolitical interests. Granted, Americans genuinely believe their ideals are noble and universal, but at the same time, it would be naive to deny that US support for think tanks, watchdogs, and NGOs — often via funding from the State Department and USAID — are tools in Washington’s image-making process.

Full disclosure: I worked for 11 years for China’s state news agency, and am now a fellow at a non-governmental thinktank in Beijing. I realize that brings automatic skepticism from American readers. Believe it or not, that doesn’t automatically bind me to Chinese state narratives. Still, it is puzzling that the political system — liberal democracy or otherwise — should fundamentally alter judgments about influencing public opinion and sideline considerations on the carried content. Put it another way, I take the core assumption behind the criticism — that America’s support for its own soft-power initiatives is neutral, impartial, and moral, while China’s is inherently bad — with a strong pinch of salt.

Most of all, though, the new social media influence game highlights Chinese worry over the asymmetry in US-China relations. The US has enormous global cultural power, including in China. About 280,000 Chinese students study in the US, yet the number of American students in China has drastically declined, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. English remains a mandatory subject in China’s educational system, and Chinese people are significantly more engaged with and interested in the US than the reverse.

But true mutual understanding relies on sustained interpersonal interaction, something sorely lacking today. Even skeptical American elites agree that bridging this gap is necessary for stabilizing relations. Encouraging greater engagement — whether organic or officially promoted — would be strategically beneficial for both sides.

Not crying wolf about every Chinese engagement or casting Chinese students as spies could help, too. Viewing these cultural exchanges more constructively, instead of immediately casting suspicion on them, could pave the way for more fruitful dialogues. Ideally, of course, Americans would prefer their compatriots to exhibit a completely organic, self-driven interest in China, independent of any government influence. However, this is the real world, and Beijing sees active intervention as essential to reduce what it sees as misunderstandings that currently dominate public discourse.

And while I realize that this is an odd venue for me to offer advice to the Chinese government on its soft power programming, there’s one … red line … they would do well to pay attention to. The issue of paid content brings another cultural difference to the fore: In China, sponsored media coverage isn’t taboo, it’s commonplace. The lines between editorial and marketing departments often blur, leading to frequent sponsored articles and reports that appear on platforms like WeChat and Weibo — and even in China’s legacy media — without clear disclosures. In the case of this influencer exchange program, Chinese invitation promises reimbursement for travel expenses but, at least officially, no additional financial reward — aligning with domestic norms.

China should implement this initiative with full transparency — disclosing Chinese sponsorship in the content — which would strengthen both the credibility of the influencers producing it, and China’s image as a result. Such candor respects American norms and only projects confidence. Opening the doors for real, meaningful interactions will be essential for both sides to gain a clearer and more complete understanding of one another, ensuring a less combative future.

Zichen Wang is research fellow and director for international communications at the Center for China and Globalization.