CHINA PERSPECTIVE

Beijing covers the episode with parsimony and strategy. The South China Morning Post publishes two articles: 'Protests over US Ebola centre in Kenya kill 2, court keeps block on site' and 'Young Kenyans protest Ebola quarantine centre for US citizens.' Both pieces are factual and reproduce the human and judicial tolls. SCMP does not polemicize explicitly but the editorial choice is revealing: Beijing highlights two facts that the U.S. press conceals — the two shot dead, and the Kenyan judicial block. This narrative selection is a political act in itself. China refuses to take a public position but the choice of facts suggests an angle: Washington imposes a project on an African country that doesn't want it, the local judiciary resists, and the result is deadly. This interpretive grid is compatible with the Chinese strategy of influence in Africa — Beijing presents itself as a partner that 'respects the sovereignty' of African states. SCMP uses this coverage to recall that South Africa has criticized the arrangement and that other African countries are watching. The Chinese specificity: saying nothing but suggesting everything. The 'health double standard' grid that Doha poses explicitly, SCMP lets the reader build via the selection of facts. This is very subtle media diplomacy, and probably more effective than frontal Russian accusations.