11,000 kilometers has to travel in a freight train to get from Mannheim to port of Guoyuan in China. Before he gets there, it goes through Poland, Russia and Kazakhstan.

to take When it comes to the Chinese government in the future more freight trains per day travelling this route, as part of the infrastructure project the “New silk road”. This will strengthen the regions around the Yangtze river and the Rhine, proclaimed Beijing. And improved cooperation with Germany in the areas of logistics, trade and manufacturing.

on the “Silk Road Information Service”, the China’s state-run Xinhua news Agency is informed to be Read to the currently most important prestige project for the Communist party in Beijing, for about 900 billion dollars and the trade is to allow paths up to Duisburg and beyond.

More news on the “New silk road,” reported Xinhua on the service every day. About this: In Western countries more money for the Initiative is to be spent than originally planned. In addition, The wind energy balance in the Region Ningxia in China has risen to a new record, and the people’s Republic is still the largest trading partner for Uzbekistan. A success message follows the other.

About the state of news from China, written in English, emblazoned next to the Xinhua Logo, and yet another: the dpa-platform. The largest German news Agency, was as a technical service provider to hire and which are unlocks roads-messages at the request of their customers for this. A note, that it is state propaganda, it was not necessary, it is said: “The platform supports a professional B-to-B market , in which it is known, such as the Xinhua news Agency is organized,” says dpa spokesperson Jens Petersen.

the impact on the own reporting about China have a trade relationship in accordance with Beijing, says Petersen. “The ‘Xinhua Silk Road Information Service’ is a pure commercial product, which has no connection with the dpa reporting from or about China, or to other topics.” The “comprehensive and critical” reporting on China “out of the question”.

As a problematic Thorsten Benner from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, the business relationship nonetheless. “Any Western media company has the right to make independent journalism, his brand is not Chinese propaganda media,” he says. “This is not compatible with the own claim to journalism and credibility.”

More skeptical of China’s self-commendations

in the past, there had been criticism of Chinese Propaganda under the umbrella of major media brands: The article pages of the “China Watch” in reputable Newspapers as the so-called paid supplement , a kind of advertising brochure, for example, the “Washington Post”. “China Watch,” is a direct offshoot of the China Daily, the state English-language newspaper based in Beijing. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) had to print in addition, 2016 is a display, the pries of Xinhua articles, stock, and Chinese athletes (read more here). The SZ is the Supplement of the “China Watch is no longer published” in the meantime.

the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) in Berlin in his study of the “Authoritarian Advance” to the conclusion that the public opinion of China is influenced primarily under the brand umbrella of established media brands. China is actively “to improve the global perception of China’s political and economic System and to position it as a viable Alternative to liberal democracy” – quoted by Deutsche Welle from the study.

the readers are the commendations of the Western media, in General, more skeptical of the Chinese Self: “In France, Germany and the United Kingdom it is very difficult for the KP to dominate the image of China,” says Benner. “There are a lot of independent votes. Think tanks, researchers, and most of the journalists report very critically and differently about China.” To convince despite attempts by Beijing even in this country, journalists and scientists to tell a “positive China story,” as the President has issued Xi Jinping at the recent national people’s Congress as a target.

More on the subject of Geostrategic major project setback for China’s silk road

the project of “New silk road” to help. Not only the company, the new business promises this with the second strongest economy in the world, praise the Initiative. There are also prominent advocates, such as former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder: “I am convinced that particularly China’s ‘New silk road’ of the people and economies of Asia and Europe even closer together,” he said at this year’s “Hamburg Summit”.

companies such as the British banking house HSBC take over some of the history. So the Bank switched to the online side of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” a whole series of articles on the theme of “New silk road”.

The commitment to the “New silk road” is a great propaganda show. The issue is, since it’s not linked in the Public with critical points such as the human rights situation in China. Likewise, the negative effects of the infrastructure initiative are hidden – for example, that poor States have in debt already deep in the Chinese donors. So Sri Lanka had to lease a built port to Beijing.

The Convey positive images is characteristic of the Chinese information strategy, which thus differs for example from the Russian. “The Kremlin wants to cause some confusion or social ditches even deeper, which has seen, for example, in the case of Lisa in Germany,” says Benner. The Chinese government is not prepared, however, with disinformation. Your primary focus is to create a positive attitude towards China.

A scenario, the Benner fears: China may buy-in directly in the media industry. “The must, by Statute, a bar to be fed,” he urges. So far, there are not appropriate regulations.

Xi promised during his visit to Latin America that China would economically open even further – in the future, intellectual property in the country should be better protected. Even more good news.