Chinese live-streamers show diplomats new channel
- Foreign ambassadors to China are trying their hand at live-streaming, and finding it an effective way to export products and ideas
- They are being helped by seasoned streamers keen to tell China’s story well – and popular enough to sell 26 tonnes of Afghan pine nuts during a broadcast
The Sri Lankan ambassador to China faced a language barrier and was visibly uneasy at first, having forgotten that he had agreed to host the broadcast. But the audience flooded the comment section with welcomes, especially after Chinese live-streamer Zora Liu Meixi encouraged him to wave at the camera and told him how to say “Hello my Chinese friends” in Mandarin.
With that, Kohona joined a list of ambassadors to China who have used live streams to present their countries’ wares to Chinese consumers as well as promote China back home as a lucrative market that can enrich their own people.
The envoys have had a helping hand in their initial steps into live-streaming in the shape of prominent Chinese presenters and influencers, who have amassed large followings in a market that internet analysis firm iiMedia Research valued at 961 billion yuan (now US$149 billion) in 2020.
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Foreigners in China join army of online live-streamers to sell Chinese products around the world
China’s government and businesses have indirectly supported influencers who transmit the country’s voice beyond its borders, making live-streaming a unique diplomatic channel in linking the Chinese public and the partner country.
For Kohona, the e-commerce benefits to Sri Lanka were plainly evident. At the trade expo, he told viewers about the types of tea he had in the mornings and evenings. Like a professional salesman, he attributed his healthy skin to coconut oil products such as the ones he was promoting.
