Chinese Journal of European Studies

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has further damaged the international image of the European Union, who was already suffering from the sovereign debt crisis, the refugee crisis and the Brexit crisis. Not only has the unity of the EU been questioned, but its competence criticized. In this context, the EU is actively shaping its own image through digital public diplomacy by social media platforms. From the perspective of dialogic theory, this paper conducts an empirical analysis of such practice by the the EU’s “self-image building” practice and its communication effect based on content analysis and big data network analysis of EU Delegation in China through its official Weibo account during the COVID-19. The study finds that during the pandemic, the EU Delegation in China tried to transmit four types of images of the EU to the Chinese public through Weibo, namely, the EU is a normative power in international affairs, a leader in European solidarity and cooperation, a partner of China on global issues and a “normal Europe” under COVID-19. However, concerning the interaction and communication effect with Chinese netizens, only with the theme of COVID-19 and EU-China cooperation, the Weibo released by the EU Delegation in China is significantly correlated to the comments made by Chinese netizens. In general, the digital public diplomacy carried out by the EU Delegation in China through Weibo has failed to form a dialogic relationship with Chinese netizens. Moreover, the Weibo as an interactive platform has become the re-expression of the respective discourses and values of the EU delegation and Chinese netizens. This paper further argues that only by making full use of the two-way communication of social media and avoiding “self-talk”, can the EU and China effectively promote mutual understanding and thus establish strategic mutual trust.