China's soft power game in Montenegro

These trips, however, are usually strictly controlled and limited, while guests are shown only the aspects of China that are considered to be its best features. From organizing the trip to staying in China, the whole experience can be seen as an attempt at soft power.

This is also the opinion of the executive director of the Belgrade-based Council for Strategic Policies, Nikola Lunić, who in an interview with the Media Institute states that this is an explicit example of the projection of soft power, which aims to win over parts of the elite in a society, in order to spread their impressions and thus helping the realization of Chinese interests.

- All those visits were not organized in underdeveloped regions of China, but precisely in the most developed ones, in order to achieve the basic goal of soft influence. Many of those visitors to China will likely recount their experiences and recommend Chinese partners for cooperation in many areas in the coming period. It should be known that in the projection of soft power, investments are planned very carefully, including the list of visitors to China - says Lunić.

The strong economic development of China, along with the strengthening of military power and political influence, have made that country a great power in international relations. China is economically and politically "present" in all parts of the world, and now, more than ever before, in the Balkans as well.

As stated in a 2023 study by the Digital Forensic Center in Podgorica, the Chinese presence in Montenegro, unlike the Russian one, is not motivated by political aspirations, at least not in the sense of direct interference in the country's internal affairs or foreign policy orientation.

China is still not the largest investor in Montenegro, as is the case in some neighboring countries, but it is therefore a lender and contractor that significantly participates in the foreign trade balance. As in the region, Chinese projects in Montenegro are non-transparent, and often had harmful consequences for the environment.

Therefore, among other things, with the aim of creating a positive sentiment, China uses various tools to strengthen its influence in Montenegro.

The concept of soft power in political theory was defined in the seventies of the last century and analyzes the ability of a country to convince others to do what it wants, without the use of force or coercion.

 

As tools of soft power, we recognize the publication of columns and articles by various analysts in which the power and influence of China are glorified, the transmission of positive information from the Chinese media through the media in Montenegro that have contracts for content sharing.

 

The national public broadcaster, Radio-television of Montenegro (RTCG), signed an agreement with the International Chinese Television Corporation in 2019, thus becoming a member of the "Silk Road" community, which is the largest distributor of television and radio programs in all of China.

As RTCG announced at the time, this gave viewers in Montenegro the opportunity to watch "the best Chinese documentaries, cartoons and cultural shows, and our best content will be found on their channels that are watched all over the world".

The cooperation between RTCG and the Chinese Media Group (CMG) after the change of multi-decade government in Montenegro in 2020, has only deepened in the following years.

Thus, in 2021, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Montenegro, CMG produced a documentary entitled "15 years of friends for better and for worse", which was broadcast on the platforms of CMG and TVCG.

In cooperation between the Chinese state media company and the Montenegrin Public Service, a documentary film about the friendship between Montenegro and China entitled "Story on the Silk Road" was produced in 2022.

China is also strengthening its presence on social networks by publishing content, but also by transmitting information published by Montenegrin media. In the short term, soft power is used through publishing news, in the medium term, strategic messaging is done, and in the long term, lasting relationships are built

According to political theory, the influence of soft power usually comes through the country's culture, political values and international politics, as factors that determine its attractiveness in the world.

Data from a recently published DFC survey also show that over the past decade, China has managed to develop a positive sentiment towards itself in Montenegro, according to which, in the perception of more than 60 percent of respondents, China ranks second, just behind the European Union, in in terms of positive influence in the country.

Other relevant researches carried out in the past period in Montenegro indicate a similar perception, and despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Montenegrin citizens, which goes up to 80 percent, support the country's membership in the EU, when asked whose foreign policy should be coordinated with Montenegrin, they often put Chinese before Euro-Atlantic.

A special segment of China's soft power can be seen in the visits to that country organized by the Chinese embassy in Montenegro. Although we could not get exact information from the embassy itself, according to the research we have conducted so far, in its organization, about 70 Montenegrin journalists have visited China.

The first visit was organized back in 2014. Since then, it has been organized every year until 2020 and the emergence of the corona virus. While we are writing this text, a group of Montenegrin journalists is visiting China.

 

The journalists we contacted have different comments on these visits. One of them told us that the visit was useful, that he learned a lot about Chinese culture and history, and that he did not recognize that it could be interpreted as an attempt at so-called soft influence.

- We visited everything that I would have visited if I had organized the visit myself. The host tried to answer all our questions, but some related to their political and economic arrangement still remained unanswered. During the visit, we were repeatedly told through various presentations that China does not have any political agenda, but that it wants to build good relations with Montenegro and that they are primarily focused on economic cooperation through the "Belt and Road" project. Our hosts were kind and at your service every moment. They showed us different and different segments of Chinese society and state - told us a journalist who wished to remain anonymous.

At the same time, a long-time Montenegrin journalist and editor, who also wished to remain anonymous, believes that the organization was strictly controlled, and that journalists could not visit and see everything they wanted.

- I was one of the participants of the study visit organized by the Chinese Embassy. The visit was organized on the occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of the Communist Party of China. It is interesting that there were seven of us from Montenegro, while there was one representative from other countries in the group. There was only one other journalist from Serbia from the region. This indicates China's great interest in Montenegro.

The visit, on the other hand, was strictly controlled. We didn't have a single moment free. However, after difficult negotiations, we managed to organize ourselves and to visit the Great Wall of China, because the visit plan did not provide for us to visit this wonder of the world.

We attended the celebration ceremony. The whole organization was impressive. Demonstration of China's military might...white doves..fascinating. As well as the entire visit with the aim of showing the splendor of China. We rode the train at a speed of 375 km per hour, visited the "smart city", saw a bus where the ticket is paid with a palm print. Our guide was a journalist from the state-run Chinese agency who studied in Belgrade and knew our language perfectly. When we asked him if so much control was a problem for him, he answered that it was not, because now they live much better. We did not manage to open any of the controversial issues with him, he simply skillfully avoided them. So, we saw the brilliance, but not the misery of China - she told us.

In recent years, the Montenegrin media have reported a lot about the stay of journalists in China. Thus, in October 2019, a text was published on the RTCG portal stating that in the last two years (2018 and 2019), 25 journalists from Montenegro visited China.

It is stated that in the reports, the journalists made an effort to bring Chinese tradition, culture and economic development closer to Montenegrin citizens. According to the data we obtained since 2014, when the first visit was organized, about 70 journalists from all Montenegrin media had the opportunity to visit China.

 

At the time we are writing this text, a group of Montenegrin journalists is in China, and they are scheduled to stay for ten days. Nine directors of schools in Montenegro, as well as two representatives of the Montenegrin Ministry of Education, are currently staying in China.

The Executive Director of the Council for Strategic Policies, Nikola Lunić, speaking about China's influence in the countries of the Western Balkans, says that we are witnessing a new global geopolitical re-composition of power that will certainly have an impact on this region as well.

- The confrontation of the great powers will ultimately bring a solution to the dilemma on which basis international relations should rest - whether it is the right of a stronger state or respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of all countries of the world. During the past decade, China has become a significant actor in the region, primarily through the global initiative "Belt and Road", through which many infrastructure, energy and telecommunications projects have been implemented. However, one should not exaggerate the Chinese influence, because Chinese direct investments in Europe are incomparable to investments in the Western Balkans, primarily in terms of the amount of invested capital. Our region will also remain attractive for China in the coming period because it is institutionally connected to the EU, but without strong mechanisms that could obstruct their projects. In this way, China projects soft power even on small countries in order to systematically expand its influence - he states.

According to him, Chinese influence is definitely present in Montenegro as well, and it can be expected that it will develop in different areas in the coming period.

- Unlike the Russian malign influence, which tries to aggressively impose its own interests through the perception of shared history and culture, China presents itself as an opportunity for the prosperity of Montenegro at a relatively acceptable price in an absolute and relative context. Such different projections of Russian and Chinese influence are not compatible and do not have the synergy of joint performance, but this also represents one of the characteristics of China's sophisticated, but still for many Montenegrins, abstract performance of China - says Lunić.

He states that soft power represents the possibility of attracting and creating partnership and alliance relationships through the determination of others, and not through the use of hard power or military force.

- One of the factors that makes an entity a world or regional power is certainly the coefficient of soft power it possesses. In this context, the progress of China is obvious, and this year it was positioned in third place, right behind the USA and the United Kingdom (Global Soft Power Index by Brand Finance). I will remind you that China was ranked 27th out of 30 nations just five years ago (The Soft Power 30 index by Portland Communications and USC Center on Public Diplomacy). In addition to popularity in the area of rule of law or level of democracy, soft power also includes cultural exchange, presence in global media, educational exchange, export of entertainment and music, artistic influence and recognizable global branding of a nation or culture. In some of these areas, China has a significant influence in Africa, but also in our region - said Lunić.

Answering the question of what is the possible reason for China's influence in Montenegro, he says that China has become a world power that has long since replaced Russia in that place, but the Kremlin still does not understand this.

 

- In this sense, China possesses all the attributes of a great power, from economic and military power to soft influence. Within the framework of the projection of soft power in Europe and the Western Balkan region, Montenegro is also unavoidable. This should not be perceived a priori as a threat, but Montenegro must be aware of all the challenges that may one day confront its national interests - concludes Lunić.

On the other hand, in the International Republican Institute (IRI) from Washington, they look at things a little differently, so in a recently published report they claim that China and Russia in Montenegro use deep divisions in the population and the media to promote their agendas, spread disinformation through ethnically divided media, and use propaganda "spread by pro-Serbian/pro-Russian/pro-government media" to highlight the Sino-Russian alliance as a superior alternative to the liberal world order.

The increasingly strong ties between Russia and China are part of a growing network of authoritarian actors working to undermine democracy globally, exploiting weak governments and strengthening corruption in other countries, according to the report, which includes Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina among the nine countries analyzed. Herzegovina (BiH).

The authors of the study state that the interests of China and Russia overlap, but that the two countries have so far mostly followed different paths to weaken democratic institutions and strengthen autocratic governance.

The IRI report states that the creation of narratives is the primary area of joint influence and coordination between Russia, China and other authoritarian actors, so one repeats the propaganda of the other and does it in a circle, where Russia Today retweets Xinhua, and Xinhua retweets Russia Today as a kind of evidence.

This approach, according to the authors of the study, is not necessarily strategic. Although there are mechanisms for media coordination between China and the Kremlin, in practice it is mostly opportunism where there are similar goals.

 

 

 

ONCLUSION

 

Soft power, or the ability of a country to convince others to do what it wants, is a tool that China applies around the world and is very present in the countries of the Western Balkans. Chinese embassies in the countries of the Western Balkans initiate various collaborations with media, educational and cultural institutions. The text analyzes the way in which China exercises soft power in Montenegro, which is accompanied by economic influence through the financing of infrastructure projects, the most famous of which is the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway, which was characterized by non-transparency, fiscal and environmental problems, and Montenegro is even placed in a situation where it cannot pay off its debt to a Chinese investor and on the verge of a debt trap, from which it was saved by European financial institutions.

The soft power that China achieves in Montenegro, the methods and tools it uses to achieve that goal, are the same in almost all countries of the Western Balkans. Thus, journalists are regularly invited to travel to China (which are strictly controlled by the Chinese authorities), distinguished professors to give lectures at Chinese universities, artists, cultural workers, representatives of institutions... In other countries of the Western Balkans, too, Chinese investments are characterized by non-transparency, violation of domestic legislation, international and environmental standards.

Everything stated in the text clearly indicates that not only government officials in the countries of the Western Balkans, but also the media, educational, cultural and other institutions should act cautiously when it comes to cooperation with Chinese institutions