ABSTRACT
This chapter delves into the disinformation practices that China employed in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The novelty that the study puts forth is that China’s disinformation campaign in the spring of 2020 was part and parcel of a performative process of constructing and projecting China’s political exceptionalism. Specifically, the study examines the strategic narrative of China’s medical exceptionalism. The authors seek to demonstrate that this was a total strategic narrative, which combined a systemic dimension with an identity and a public policy component. In essence, the strategic narrative of China’s medical exceptionalism was meant to demonstrate both the resilience and superiority of China’s political system when dealing with a crisis situation. This medical exceptionalism coupled inclusive and exclusive practices. The chapter argues that the latter ones belonged to a process of political contestation and included strategic representations and tactical narratives that either stigmatized or securitized the US.
