ABSTRACTS

ViewpointsViewpoints

Supporting the New System of High-Level Open Economy by Leveraging the Role of Public Diplomacy Han Fangming •1•

On September 19, 2024, the 12th Shanghai Public Diplomacy Dialogue, under the theme of “ High-Level Opening Up and Public Diplomacy” was organized by the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Han Fangming, President of the Charhar Institute, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Supporting the New System of High-Level Open Economy by Leveraging the Role of Public Diplomacy” at the meeting, emphasizing the importance of systematization and institutionalization of public diplomacy. He proposed building a strong bridge of communication and dialogue with overseas partners to foster a positive international perception of China.

Special Topic: New HorizonsSpecial Topic: New Horizons

The Long-Tail Effect of Tagore’s Celebrity in the Perspective of Cultural Diplomacy Zhang Liming •6•

In major-country diplomacy, exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations are an important driver for the progress of human civilization as well as and for world peace and development. Using cultural diplomacy to influence the world has become an important option of a major country in its diplomacy. This article, from the perspective of cultural diplomacy, aims to explore the reason why the Indian Council for Cultural Relations chose Tagore as a sign of modern India, how its communication strategy that combines popularization and professionalism was applied, and the long-tail effect of the strategy. This will provide a useful reference for China to carry out cultural diplomacy.

Public Diplomacy for Cultural Heritage Protection—As in the Case of the Conservation of Angkor in Cambodia Wang Yi & Yan Jiefan •15•

Cultural heritage is an important resource for tourism, which can play a positive role in improving the people’s living standards in the places around heritage sites. Public diplomacy activities in the field of cultural heritage can effectively promote people-to-people connectivity between countries and consolidate the social foundation for national exchanges. This article, taking the Angkor heritage in Cambodia as a case for study, analyzes the positive impact and existing problems of the Angkor cultural heritage tourism, and on the basis of which puts forward the principles to be followed in carrying out public diplomacy programs in the field of cultural heritage and promoting a global community of shared future.

Theoretical ResearchTheoretical Research

The Public Diplomacy Value of Overseas Youth Study Programs in China from the Perspective of Embodied Cognition Lin Yingjuan •23•

Overseas youth study programs in China can provide more opportunities for participants to have a more objective and comprehensive understanding of China in the way of “ combining knowledge with action”. Embodied cognition theory emphasizes the influence of physical state, environment and specific situation on cognition process, which provides a strong theoretical guidance for the itinerary design and implementation of overseas youth study programs in China. Under varied themes, Chinese and foreign partners should make full use of Chinese resources to endow the unique public diplomacy value to overseas youth study programs in China through attention to the study group, immersion in the study environment, and setting of the study situation. For short-term study programs aimed at overseas youth, relevant parties should promote the unity of embodied, socialized and situation-based program design to arrangement, and coordinate domestic and foreign resources to support relevant national strategic plans.

An Analysis of the Structural Functions of Social Think Tanks from the Perspective of Public Diplomacy—A Case Study of the Lowy Institute in Australia Xu Xiaoyi •32•

As an important part of a country’s diplomacy, public diplomacy plays an important role in expanding foreign exchanges and promoting people-to-people connectivity. Social think tanks, as the main actors of public diplomacy in recent years, have an increasing influence in this field. This phenomenon can be attributed to two reasons. First, social think tanks possess a dual identity, embodying both societal and scholarly dimensions, thus demonstrating the characteristics of independence and professionalism. Second, their organizational structure can seamlessly integrate with the operational mechanism of public diplomacy, effectively leveraging institutional functions such as interest representation, policy coordination, opinion shaping, and international engagement across the four practical phases of public diplomacy: input, conversion, output, and feedback. This article takes the Lowy Institute in Australia as an example to delve into how social think tanks actively engage as proactive agents in a nation’s public diplomacy, hoping to provide valuable insights and references for how social think tanks in China can further exploit their advantages in public diplomacy.

Case StudiesCase Studies

Movie Diplomacy Becoming the First Window to Better Present China to the World Wu Fei & Li Xuan •56•

The integrity of ideas and technical impact of movie diplomacy can effectively convey a country’s culture and policy. The US government, military, and intelligence community well understood the effectiveness of movie diplomacy during the world wars and the Cold War, and communicated with the movie industry and influenced its content production through specific agencies or specialized government personnel to attract foreign audience to yearn for American culture and reproduce its way of life. The American movie diplomacy is a continuation of its practice in the Cold War period to influence the thoughts and behaviors of foreign nationals in order to serve the policy goals of American diplomacy in the end. In the intensification of the contention between major countries today, the American movie diplomacy still has great influence and produces political benefits, while China’s movie diplomacy, dedicated to conveying the ideas of peaceful development and win-win cooperation, faces the problem of insufficient export volume and lack of attractiveness. China’s movie diplomacy has rich story resources, but the issue of how to integrate the ideas we want to convey with the concern of overseas audience remains to be solved. To address this issue, disseminating interesting Chinese stories that are relevant to overseas audience in movie diplomacy could be a possible way out.

The Development and Role of Public Diplomacy Carried Out by Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Parks Zhang Peng •67•

The establishment of permanent overseas economic and trade cooperation parks has brought these parks a greater role in public diplomacy, as they themselves not only symbolize cooperation between countries, but also exert a real impact of public relation on local economy, society and people’s lives by expanding employment, making investment and engaging in industrial development. The cooperation parks can also get involved with the media, in that they should not only tell well the story of the enterprises, but also tell well the stories about bilateral relations between countries. In addition, they should put themselves under the supervision of local and international media, and build their own relations with the media. After four stages of development, China’s overseas economic and trade cooperation parks have gained a series of achievements and experience. Now, China has the largest number and most diversified types of overseas economic and trade cooperation parks in the world. In practice, the 20 Chinese overseas economic and trade cooperation parks that have passed conformity assessment have indeed made a considerable contribution to China’s public diplomacy. Therefore, the experience and lessons in public diplomacy carried out by nearly 200 Chinese overseas economic and trade cooperation parks of different types are also worth systematic summarizing.

The Public Diplomacy Practice of University Student Associations under the Belt and Road Initiative—A Case Study of the Student Association of Belt and Road Initiative at Tsinghua University Zhang Xin, Zhang Wenjun & Liao Yang •78•

Since the Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI) was proposed, the Student Association of Belt and Road Initiative ( SABRI) at Tsinghua University has actively participated in public diplomacy by promoting cross-cultural dialogue and cooperation, and achieved remarkable results in its endeavor. As a student-led platform, university associations like SABRI play a crucial role in fostering cultural and intellectual exchanges between countries through diversified forms of activities to promote the realization of people-to-people connectivity. Within the BRI framework, SABRI has provided Tsinghua students and youth from countries along the Belt and Road with ample opportunities to interact with one another by organizing various international forums, cross-cultural workshops, and field research activities, thus enhancing public diplomacy efforts. The association’s success not only provides strong support for the public diplomacy practice of university associations, but also creates a new path for win-win cooperation among youth in the context of globalization. Looking ahead, as the BRI continues to evolve, student organizations in universities are expected to play an even more active role in public diplomacy and international cooperation.

Book Review

Constructing a Global Communication Theory System with Chinese Characteristics Towards a Global Community of Shared Future—A Review of Introduction to Global Communication Wang Luo & Li Yuexuan •87•

Following an academic path of historical positivism, the book Introduction to Global Communication elucidates the knowledge production logic of China’s global communication theory system: global reference, localized reproduction and regeneralization. It reproduces the independent pursuit of China’s global communication research and practice on the basis of clarifying multiple connotations of global communication. It also maps out multiple imaginative frameworks of the global community of shared future as a new normative theory in global communication, hence providing a valuable reference for constructing a global communication theory system with Chinese characteristics.