Oscars censored; Europe stiffens; our Wolf Warrior winner
Hello, and welcome to China Influence Monitor, a weekly newsletter published by CEPA and Coda Story and edited by me, Edward Lucas. We track the westward footprint of China’s influence operations, and their effects on politics, economies, societies and alliances across Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia and Europe.
SHOWBIZ
The party-state’s ability to choke foreign films with even the faintest connection to criticism has long been a scandal. It was in full flow at the Oscars. Chloe Zhao, who lived in Beijing until she was 14, won best picture and best director — the first Asian woman to do so. She gave her acceptance speech partly in Mandarin. Last month she was the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe for best director.
But that victory had alerted the Chinese propaganda machine to an incautious remark eight years ago in an interview with Filmmaker magazine, about growing up in “a place where there are lies everywhere.”