The Changing Image of China in the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of Mainstream Spanish Media

Abstract

This article aims to explore the depiction of China by mainstream Spanish media during the COVID-19 pandemic. 105 articles were collected from El Mundo, El País, La Vanguardia, ABC and El Periódico, and analyzed by topic: domestic information diffusion and epidemic prevention measures in China, Chinese aid in Spain, and opinions about them. The main finding is that China’s image portrayed by these newspapers changed from draconian and Machiavellian, given the country’s massive strict quarantine and censorship, to villainous, due to cover-up of epidemic information and governance failures that Spanish media condemned in retrospect, and then to opportunist, to a helper of use but not genuine, after China started to aid Spain while taking advantage of the inaction of the Occident. However, the Spaniards’ acceptance of these media-portrayed images varies: despite intense criticisms of governance failures and censorship characterized by the authoritarian system, Spaniards only consider “the virus from China” as an important threat, instead of the expansion of Chinese ideologies. The opportunist depiction was accepted by a considerable proportion of Spaniards, thinking China had gained economically from the pandemic and even improved its global reputation. Aid from ethnic Chinese in Spain, from private firms in China and from the Chinese Government were positively felt. Besides, the fact that Spanish citizens increasingly blamed their Government for incompetence might also explain why there was limited damage to China’s image.