cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11974481

When foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) is discussed in the Western Balkans, Russia is often the primary reference point … China presents a different, although increasingly relevant, model.

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China’s information influence in the Western Balkans is generally less dependent on overt disruption. Instead, it is embedded in longer-term relationships: university partnerships, classrooms, scholarships, media cooperation, cultural programs, professional exchanges, diplomatic outreach, and increasingly social media. These activities are not inherently forms of FIMI. Most represent legitimate international cooperation. The analytical question is rather how these relationships can become conduits through which Chinese state narratives, preferred interpretations of international events, or particular representations of China reach local audiences.

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This pattern is visible across the region, although its intensity varies considerably. Serbia has developed the most extensive network of political, economic, educational, and media relations with China. Montenegro has built significant educational and cultural links (opens pdf), while Bosnia and Herzegovina has developed a growing network of university partnerships. Albania has established institutionalized educational cooperation, while North Macedonia combines academic, cultural, and media engagement with state-level scientific cooperation. Kosovo represents a distinct case because China’s non-recognition of Kosovo limits formal diplomatic and institutional channels.

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Confucius Institutes: A More Welcoming Environment in the Western Balkans

One of the clearest illustrations of the different environment in which China operates across Europe is the trajectory of Confucius Institutes. While they have closed or come under increasing scrutiny in parts of Western Europe amid concerns about academic freedom,

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[In the] Western Balkans … Confucius Institutes remain an established and visible component of educational and cultural cooperation, with institutes operating in most of the region apart from Kosovo – the notable exception.

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Where a Confucius Institute becomes one of the principal avenues through which young people encounter China, it can shape which aspects of Chinese society, culture, and politics are made visible and how China is introduced to future professionals and opinion makers. This exposure can also extend beyond the classroom: students and young people who have the opportunity to visit China through study programs, scholarships, or exchanges have, in some cases, been found to develop more favorable perceptions of China, suggesting that direct exposure and people-to-people exchanges can contribute to shaping longer-term attitudes toward the country.

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From Institutions to Trusted Networks

Academic cooperation provides another, less visible conduit through which China has expanded its engagement with the Western Balkans.

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The relevant question from a research-security perspective is not whether cooperation with Chinese institutions is inherently problematic, but what happens within and around that cooperation: who initiates partnerships, what institutional platforms are created, what information is circulated, whether certain subjects become more visible than others, and whether local actors have access to alternative perspectives. This also requires assessing whether universities and research institutions have sufficient mechanisms to identify and manage potential risks related to research integrity, intellectual property, data, sensitive technologies, funding dependencies, and undue influence.

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From Classrooms to Newsrooms

Media represents a more direct bridge between Chinese engagement and the wider information environment. Chinese state media and diplomatic missions have developed relationships with media organizations across the Western Balkans through content-sharing, journalist exchanges, interviews, lectures, and other forms of cooperation. Xinhua, for example, has established relationships with media organizations across several Western Balkan countries, while Chinese diplomatic missions regularly provide statements, interviews, and commentary to local media. The importance of these relationships is not necessarily that Chinese-produced content is false. FIMI can also operate through selection, framing, and amplification.

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Civil Society, Professional Networks, and the Multipolarity Narrative

A fourth conduit lies between formal diplomacy and mass media: think tanks, professional associations, chambers of commerce, cultural organizations, and civil society. Engagement with these actors can create additional networks through which ideas about international order, development, and China’s global role enter domestic debates. These relationships may involve conferences, study visits, professional exchanges, research cooperation, cultural activities, or participation in international forums.

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There are at least three reasons to examine China’s information conduits more closely.

• First, the Western Balkans are increasingly exposed to a more multipolar international environment. Governments, universities, businesses, and civil society organizations are expanding their external partnerships, while China is seeking a larger role in the region. Understanding its influence requires moving beyond a binary Russia-versus-West framework and examining how Beijing presents its own role in a changing international order.

• Second, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang illustrate why seemingly distant geopolitical issues can become locally relevant. Chinese diplomatic and media communication consistently presents Taiwan through the One China principle and opposition to what Beijing describes as external interference. Hong Kong and Xinjiang are similarly framed through concepts of sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity, and resistance to foreign interference.

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• Third, the region’s institutional capacity to map foreign engagement remains uneven. There is no comprehensive regional mechanism for tracking university agreements, academic mobility, media cooperation, or other forms of China-related engagement. Cooperation is frequently fragmented and driven by individual institutions, researchers, or professional networks. This creates an important information gap. Without adequate transparency, it becomes difficult to distinguish the scale of ordinary cooperation from the accumulation of relationships that may have broader informational effects.

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