Assembling stories tweet by tweet: strategic narratives from Chinese authorities on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Combining computational and qualitative methods, this research presents a novel approach to the analysis of China’s digital diplomacy. The study explores the main strategic narratives disseminated by the Chinese Communist Party on Twitter during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify the narratives, a sequential design was conducted. First, topic modelling was implemented to a sample of 189,708 tweets in English published by 163 Chinese authorities from January 1st, 2020, to March 11th, 2021. Second, the strategic narratives framework was applied to distinguish thematic and structural patterns among the most representative tweets of the main topics revealed. The findings expose how China tried to rationalise challenging events in accordance with its pre-established system and identity narratives. The antagonism to the West, the promotion of a new style of global leadership, the rejection of criticism, and the legitimation of projects abroad characterised China’s digital endeavours to influence international audiences.