In The Art of Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes, Frances Yaping Wang offers a compelling account of how the People's Republic of China wields media not just as a tool of censorship but also as a calculated instrument of foreign policy. In contrast to the dominant focus of authoritarian media as a tool of repression alone, Wang shows how the Chinese Communist Party strategically crafts media narratives to mobilize domestic support and align public opinion with its diplomatic aims.

Scholars of bargaining, audience costs, and international security have long focused on public mobilization. Although events like the United States' bombing of China's Belgrade embassy sparked mass protests that are often seen as sources of bargaining leverage, Wang shows that the Chinese government also works to dampen public outrage. In territorial disputes that risk triggering nationalist backlash, the state sometimes encourages restraint, while at other times it stokes public anger. To explain this variation, Wang introduces the misalignment theory, which posits that the regime seeks to align public sentiment with its foreign policy objectives. When public opinion diverges from government aims, the state turns to either pacification or mobilization campaigns: the former draws on China's peaceful global identity to defuse