Original title: Italy is turning to China and Russia – the biggest enemies are EU and US members.
In a text published on April 20, 2020, the portal Expres.mk reveals the results of a survey conducted in Italy, where the citizens of Italy who were interviewed, as the most friendly countries, see China and Russia, even though these are states with historical differences with the EU and its members. It is said that Italy is turning to China and perceives several EU countries as enemy states.This sentiment for China as a strong state that helps European states in the fight against the Coronavirus, is already developing for a long time, creating pictures for this country as a very strong country.
Link to the original article here.
How did China manage to impose itself on Italy and advance before her strategic partner, the United States?
The “Atlantic Council”, a think tank for international relations, in its research leads us through the main models of propaganda with which China managed to impose itself as the “savior state” in Italy, with only one donation, at a time when she still “hasn’t cleared her yard ”of the virus.
China, according to the Atlantic Council, has launched an active information campaign on social media, using old Russian disinformation techniques.
But because social media is not enough to impose positive thinking on China, traditional media in Italy were also involved.
How television in Italy helped China look like “friendly”
As early as March 2019, several editorial agreements were signed between the Italian and Chinese media, after a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Italian Government, to join the Initiative for Belts and Roads, in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping. All influential Italian media, such as agencies, newspapers, and television, entered into partnerships with the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the Chinese daily economic newspaper and the Chinese media group.
Thus, having an impact on the Italian media, which was also reported by the Italian media with a critical editorial policy, Formichie, China was ready for a spectacle at the moment when it donated to Italy.
According to the research of the Italian media Formichie, which researched public opinion with the help of a research media company, the news about the cargo flight from China has been three times more visible compared to the donation of 100 million US dollars from the US. Even Russia’s military aid to Italy has appeared less in RAI’s service programs than the White House’s initiative, but far less than the time reserved for China.
The seven RAI platforms during March 12-13, 23-24 and 30-31 offered a space of 1904 seconds for Chinese aid, 741 seconds for Russian aid, and 589 seconds for US aid.
Such positive propaganda for China also exists in northern Macedonia, for a long time now, but no research has yet been done to measure the effect of propaganda on people.
Our team has written about propaganda for the alleged mass replacements of the EU flag in Italy with that of China, but also this narrative and some others we have written about turned out to be false, and only to reinforce the idea that China is taking the place of the EU in the world.
