The relationship between Chinese officials and foreign reporters based in China had been very tense, but the Chinese government has recently begun to appreciate the importance of soft power in improving its image overseas. The Chinese government has enhanced its international media relations efforts systematically over the past decade. However, no previous studies examined this interplay in a quantitative and systematic fashion, and analyzed the extent to which such efforts have paid off. To fill the gap in the literature, this study uses news conferences as a context to examine their...