This article is part of the Special Section on China’s Twitter diplomacy. Arguing that the concepts of hard power and soft power may no longer reflect the ever-intricate state of global politics in the twenty-first century, it intersects two distinct concepts in international relations, Peter van Ham’s social power and Robert Pape’s and T.V. Paul’s soft balancing theory, to examine China’s public diplomacy and its outcomes in the COVID-19 era (2019–2023). It is a case study of the communication strategies of the Chinese embassy in Paris, whose ambassador, Lu Shaye, proudly presents himself as a wolf warrior diplomat. To untangle China’s social power and soft-balancing mechanisms in Sino-French relations, this article uses quantitative and qualitative mix-methods, applied to three distinct datasets: N = 9,162 tweets from three Chinese diplomatic accounts in France; interviews and reports in the French broadcast and printed media; and foreign policy documents and statements. It shows that China’s social power consists of mainly place branding, while some of its communication attempts to frame certain issues and set the agenda in China–France relations and global affairs, by undermining, frustrating and delegitimizing, that is soft-balancing, the French and the West at large.

<!--field: Resume--> Dans un régime comme celui de la République populaire de Chine, où prévaut la suprématie d’un Parti-État unique, la politique et le politique constituent, a fortiori plus qu’ailleurs, la chasse gardée de l’élite dirigeante du pays, à savoir les cadres du Parti communiste. Cet article tente de saisir qui sont les élites politiques aux commandes de la Chine d’aujourd’hui à travers l’analyse du modus operandi de l’École des cadres du Parti de Shanghai. L’étude de cette institution, qui participe à la régulation de la circulation des élites et constitue l’un des lieux privilégiés de la transmission et de l’exercice du pouvoir, permet, par-delà son propre fonctionnement, d’éclairer la nature et le devenir même du régime. S’il apparaît que les forces modernisatrices, en assimilant davantage l’École du Parti à un institut d’administration publique, œuvrent à la professionnalisation du métier de cadre, c’est également et avant tout afin de mieux perpétuer l’hégémonie du Parti-État unique. <!--field: -->

Party and State in Post-Mao China is one of 15 or so titles thus far in the “China Today” series of Polity Press, an academic publisher whose stated aim is to reach out to the general readership by inviting leading China scholars around the world to write concise introductory books on key aspects of China’s struggles and accomplishments in becoming a leading world power. In this volume, the author, Teresa Wright, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at California State U...

The study examines Global Times ’ strategic narratives on the Russia-Ukraine War (2022–2024) by analysing 301 articles through issue, identity and systemic frameworks. It reveals China’s framing of the conflict as a US-Russia proxy war, positioning itself as a neutral mediator advocating multilateral dialogue while critiquing Western hegemony. The narratives portray Russia as a rational actor defending sovereignty, Ukraine as weakened yet reckless, and Europe-EU as internally fractured. Systemically, China projects a multipolar vision, blending realist power dynamics with idealist peace-building. The findings underscore China’s media diplomacy in contesting Western discourse and advancing its global governance agenda.