ABSTRACT
The newly emerging Chinese (PRC) migrant digital/social media sector in Australia sees itself as a local, independent business enterprise, not a vessel of the Chinese state. In fact, it tries to distance itself from both Chinese state media and the pro-PRC traditional ethnic Chinese media. However, news in these digital media consistently strikes a positive stance towards China, sides with China’s official positions on controversial issues and identifies with Chinese nationalism when the PRC is criticised in the international community. In this sense, this sector seems to operate as a bona fide agent of China’s public diplomacy, and to epitomise what the Chinese government’s soft power initiatives aspire to achieve. However, this sector also actively promotes the attractiveness of Australia’s environment and lifestyle, suggesting that these online and social media spaces may also be operating as de facto instruments of public diplomacy towards China on Australia’s behalf. Situated in the context of the Mandarin-speaking migrants and their uses of digital/social media in Australia, this chapter engages with the discussion on digital diaspora, and argues for a major rethink on the concepts of soft power, public diplomacy and flexible citizenship in the age of accelerated mobility.
