The role of e-Governance in Europe's image of the Chinese Communist Party

The purpose of this article is to examine official Chinese websites in the framework of e-Governance to understand the opportunities that such a communication tool could bring to improve the European - the European Union countries - audiences' understanding and the image of the central Chinese Government. The research hypothesis is that better accessibility and high-quality information as well as e-services will improve the level of trust of European citizens in the Chinese Government. This research is based on an empirical examination of the way in which official Chinese websites are accessed and perceived by European users. The sample group consists of respondents with a relation to China and studying or working in the fields of business, research, tourism and civil services. The data were collected using an online survey, and the sample totalled 143 respondents. The research revealed that European audiences find a correlation between access to and quality of information and e-services and trustworthiness, as well as a causal relation between quality of information and the improvement of image.