2026 - 2030: International Authoritarian Narrative Control: China’s Messaging on Domestic Repression and its Reception among Diaspora Audiences (Czech Science Foundation/ GAČR)

This project investigates how authoritarian regimes seek to protect their international image by controlling narratives about their domestic human rights abuses, focusing on how narratives on China’s repression of Uyghurs are disseminated to and received by the Chinese diaspora in Sweden. Despite growing attention to China’s global propaganda, little is still known about how these narratives are received abroad. Using expert interviews, media discourse analysis, social media data analysis, surveys, and interviews, the project explores how narratives are disseminated, whether they reach the diaspora, how they are perceived by its members, and whether they lead to acceptance—either actively or through passive conformity.