ABSTRACTS
Viewpoints
Advancing Human Civilization with High-Quality Opening-up Han Fangming · 1 ·
The 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting was held in Bangkok from 18 to 19 November 2022. This meeting shows that countries in the Asia-Pacific can achieve reciprocity and prosperity through mutual opening-up and improve quality through greater opening-up. All countries in the Asia-Pacific will work together to write a common episode of peace, development, cooperation and win-win progress. China will continue to deepen and expand the Asia-Pacific partnership featuring equality, openness and cooperation, expand in great earnest converging interests with other countries in the region, and make peaceful coexistence, overall stability and balanced development the main theme of the Asia-Pacific region.
Special Topic
New Functions and New Strategy of Public Diplomacy US Digital Assistance to Vietnamese Youth Huang Yuzi · 4 ·
In recent years, a wave of digital transformation has swept Southeast Asia, profoundly changing the way young people integrate into the outside world. As it is in the rising stage of digital transformation, Vietnam is facing difficulties such as shortages in digital talents and lack of technological impetus. As an important part of the great power strategy, the US youth public diplomacy towards Vietnam is also becoming “digital-oriented” in the post-COVID-19 era. By getting connected with Vietnam’s national strategies and multi-level needs, the US has forged a composite digital technology assistance network of “official + social” and “technology + ideology” to promote its youth public diplomacy towards Vietnam. Such assistance has squeezed the development space of China’s public diplomacy towards Vietnamese youth and brought uncertainties to the digital cooperation between China and Vietnam.
Multiple Spaces of Public Diplomacy through Educational Aid from the Perspective of “ASEAN Centrality” Yang Tirong · 11 ·
Educational aid is an important way for ASEAN countries to carry out public diplomacy with internal and external actors, thus forming a “traditional space”, a “Chinese space” and a “ASEAN space” in ASEAN public diplomacy. Based on the perspective of “ASEAN centrality” and following the logic of starting from ASEAN and responding to the needs of ASEAN, this paper discusses the multiple spaces of ASEAN’s public diplomacy through educational aid. The traditional space composed of the educational assistance of the US and other Western developed countries, the Chinese space mainly characterized by China’s educational assistance under the Belt and Road Initiative, and the ASEAN space constructed by the educational assistance implemented by ASEAN and its member states have jointly forged a multi-level spatial structure of ASEAN’s public diplomacy through educational aid. Continuing to analyze and pay attention to the changes of this spatial structure will help promote the high-quality development of China-ASEAN public diplomacy in the future.
Motivation and Path of Cross-Cultural Communication by South Korea’s Three Major Entertainment Companies with Malaysia Su Lin · 18 ·
Educational aid is an important way for ASEAN countries to carry out public diplomacy with internal and external actors, thus forming a “traditional space”, a “Chinese space” and a “ASEAN space” in ASEAN public diplomacy. Based on the perspective of “ASEAN centrality” and following the logic of starting from ASEAN and responding to the needs of ASEAN, this paper discusses the multiple spaces of ASEAN’s public diplomacy through educational aid. The traditional space composed of the educational assistance of the US and other Western developed countries, the Chinese space mainly characterized by China’s educational assistance under the Belt and Road Initiative, and the ASEAN space constructed by the educational assistance implemented by ASEAN and its member states have jointly forged a multi-level spatial structure of ASEAN’s public diplomacy through educational aid. Continuing to analyze and pay attention to the changes of this spatial structure will help promote the high-quality development of China-ASEAN public diplomacy in the future.
America’s Green Public Diplomacy towards the Youth in Singapore Shao Zhicheng · 25 ·
In recent years, Southeast Asia has become the focus of major-country competition and cooperation. In this strategic context, the United States attaches great importance to its climate partnership with Singapore, seeking to build its green public diplomacy towards Singapore youth into the “best practice” in Southeast Asia. The green public diplomacy of the United States towards the youth in Singapore is in the ascendency, which presents three major characteristics: strategic, hierarchical and thematic. The green public diplomacy of the United States is very different from those of other Western countries, as it pays more attention to guiding and shaping the values of the youth in the host country. Government-to-government cooperation, private sector cooperation and green public diplomacy towards the youth between the United States and Singapore may form a mutually reinforcing relationship, which will enhance the goodwill of young Singaporeans towards the United States and their recognition of the American view on climate governance. Their climate cooperation has served as an example throughout Southeast Asia, thus expanding US leadership in regional climate governance.
The Pattern and Influence of the Local Youth Public Diplomacy Venues Established by Western Countries — Taking the Youth Public Diplomacy Venues of the United States, South Korea and France in Indonesia as Examples Yin Kaijun · 32 ·
Local youth public diplomacy venues are the physical support and important bases for the US and the West to carry out youth public diplomacy. The establishment of local youth public diplomacy venues by various countries has the common starting point of forging a positive national image and safeguarding their respective interests of national economic security, while presenting differentiated motivations. Cultural experience, educational exchange and organizational coordination are the three pillar functions of the local venues. On this basis, each country builds its own characteristic youth public diplomacy path, which constitutes a wide range of social influences. This paper takes the local youth public diplomacy venues established by the United States, South Korea and France in Indonesia as examples to explore their motivations and patterns, in a hope to provide experiences and enlightenment for China to carry out its public diplomacy towards Southeast Asian youth.
The Mobilization Public Diplomacy of the United States towards Southeast Asian Youth —Taking the Youth Public Diplomacy of the United States towards Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines as Examples Li Yangxing, Liu Yudi & Liang Qainyu · 38 ·
In the context of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the United States has renewed its strategic attention to Southeast Asia. The mobilization public diplomacy, which takes hot issues as opportunities to mobilize youth groups in target countries to participate in specific activities, is an important lever of the United States to expand its regional influence. According to the means and degree, the mobilization public diplomacy can be classified as direct mobilization and indirect mobilization as well as radical mobilization and moderate mobilization. Taking the youth public diplomacy of the United States towards Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines as examples, this paper discusses the basic model and influence of the United States’ mobilization public diplomacy towards Southeast Asian youth. The American mobilization public diplomacy towards Southeast Asian youth poses a challenge for China to expand its diplomatic space. As a result, it is urgent for China to adjust and optimize its pubic diplomacy system on the premise of knowing ourselves as well as the rivals, and resolve the potential systematic risks in the surrounding region.
Comments
The Image Shaping by “Fashion China” in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun Report on China Chen Yasai & Li Siyi · 45 ·
In the past 50 years since the normalization of China-Japan relations, their bilateral relations have suffered not only from internal concerns such as territorial disputes and issues left over from history, but also from external threats brought by drastic changes unseen in a century, bringing the development of bilateral relations to face multiple challenges. However, national image and national relations complement each other. For a long time, the Japanese media’s Chinarelated reports have groundlessly criticized and accused China, which has seriously distorted the Japanese people’s understanding of China and hindered the further development of bilateral relations. In this context, the image presented by “Fashion China” with weak political attributes may be a “breakthrough point” for optimizing China’s image. In general, in the 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Japan, the Asahi Shimbun has shaped a China image through “Fashion China” by using the communication techniques of “empathy” and symbols, and the image presented has mixed features of friendliness vs. uniqueness, threat vs. intimacy, and tradition vs. modernity. Therefore, China’s communication to Japan should also make good use of part of the positive Chinese image created, actively cater to the communication style of Japanese media, and take it as the fulcrum in order to create a “lever” for promoting the national image of China.
The “Going Out” of China’s Overseas Security Forces: Status Quo, Problems and Solutions Yu Wanli & Xu Xiaotian · 54 · In the context of the “great changes unseen in a century” and the “rampant COVID-19 pandemic”, the overseas security service is a three-dimensional system combining national power and market power. As an industry that “provides security service overseas in a market way”, the industry of international security has its own characteristics. China’s overseas security service started in the early 21st century from scratch, and has undergone a process of deepening and enriching from recognition to practice. This paper summarizes the development and problems of China’s oversea security service, and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for developing China’s overseas security forces based on the current situation.
International Hot Spots and China’s Diplomacy Mi Guanghong · 65 · In the context of constant changes in the international landscape and profound changes in the economic pattern of various countries, China’s diplomacy also faces unprecedented challenges in the security, political, economic and other fields. China needs to properly handle its relations with the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and other countries and regions, seize the period of strategic opportunities, strive for a peaceful and stable international environment, adhere to the general foreign policy direction that “major countries are the key, neighboring countries are the primary, developing countries are the foundation, and multilateral diplomacy is the stage”, and make full use of its own advantages to carry out major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.
International Dissemination of Time-Honored Brands: Current Insights, Problems Sorted and Innovation Path Niu Kun · 74 ·
Time-honored brand occupies an important place in the development history of national commercial civilization and is a major symbol carrier of Chinese excellent traditional culture. Under the new circumstances, time-honored brands are playing an increasingly important role in international communication, telling China’s story well, enhancing China’s soft power, spreading Chinese culture, and helping realize Chinese-style modernization. Under the influence of multiple factors, such as national tide, policy encouragement, and culture, technology, globalization and media boost, the development of time-honored brands is driven by strong momentum, presenting a dynamic scene of following a track of “double cycle” development at home and abroad, accelerating the start of a new journey of internationalization, gaining more “overseas fans”, and closely connecting with national image building. At the same time, due to the low degree of internationalization, dispersed marketing and communication power, and insufficient value expression and cultural interpretation, the core competitiveness of time-honored brands urgently needs to be enhanced, their international influence to be boosted, and their individualities to be highlighted. It is highly necessary to promote the sustainable dissemination of time-honored brands in overseas markets through the innovation path of “integrity, innovation, integration and breakthrough”.
Case Studies
Research on Public Diplomacy by Private Think Tanks — As in the Case of the Charhar Institute Tang Yanlin & Liu Hongzhe · 85 ·
As a top private think tank in China, the Charhar Institute is committed to promoting the continuous development of China’s public diplomacy and building itself into an independent Chinese think tank with international influence. It has achieved many major strategic achievements. The Charhar Institute has developed distinctive features of non-governmental think tanks in conducting public diplomacy. First, it provides professional ideological products of public diplomacy and tells China’s story well in an “academic and theoretical” way. Second, it vigorously helps spread China’s international influence and highlight the Chinese characteristics of public diplomacy. Third, it helps shape the international public opinion of the source area and enhance China’s ability of international communication. Fourth, it strives to build the brand of a new type of think tanks with Chinese characteristics and helps raise the influence of these new-typed think tanks in a rapid way. This paper also summarizes the institute’s successful experience in public diplomacy: first, actively promotnig cooperation between Chinese and foreign think tanks; second, building a research team of both Chinese and foreign talents; and third, taking concrete actions to participate in international agenda setting.
A Research Report of the International Organizations Headquartered in China Identified by the Union of International Associations (UIA) Zhang Peng & Zhou Ying · 99 ·
The Yearbook of International Organizations published by the UIA is currently the oldest, largest and most comprehensive source of information on international organizations in the world. Judging from the basic situation of the international organizations headquartered in China identified by the UIA, China is still relatively backward in promoting and attracting the headquarters of international organizations to China, and there is a lack of international organizations with real international influence in China. Therefore, while increasing efforts to attract international organizations to China, China also needs to cultivate and support domestic organizations with internationalization potentials to become internationalized, and make them the fulcrum for the future shift from “getting internationalized” to “attracting international organizations”.
An Analysis on the Development Trend of Japan’s Foreign Aid — Focusing on International Humanitarian Assistance Wang Yuxiao & Zhou Pingping · 109 ·
Japan is one of the main countries participating in international humanitarian aid, and humanitarian aid is also an important component of Japan’s postwar foreign aid. However, under the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan’s domestic politics, economy and society have been greatly affected, which also brings more uncertainties to Japan’s humanitarian assistance in the post-COVID-19 era. Nevertheless, from the perspective of Japan’s national strategy, Japan may continue to expand its international influence through providing aid, as well as build and maintain its international image as a “major donor country”. Moreover, in recent years, Japan presents four major development trends in providing international aid: strengthening its political tendency, increasing its non-governmental nature, deepening its militarization trend, and striving for dominance and discourse power in the field of international humanitarian aid. History
The Historical Experience of the Party’s Public Opinion Warfare during the Anti-Japanese War from the Archives of Japanese Collections Zhao Xinli · 119 ·
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always attached great importance to publicity. During the Anti-Japanese War, the CPC focused on the work of “uniting the majority and isolating the minority” to the greatest extent, and widely applied this concept to the public opinion warfare against Japan. The Eighth Route Army carried out the public opinion warfare “with the rhetoric they know” through promoting Japanese language education, educated and transformed the Japanese captives, established anti-war alliances and other organizations, and carried out the public opinion warfare against Japan with the help of the “external mouth” system, which improved the pertinence and effectiveness of the efforts to disintegrate the enemy through publicity. In addition, during the Anti-Japanese War, the CPC paid close attention to the concept of seeking truth from facts in improving the public opinion warfare, and constantly refined the content and quality of propaganda materials to make them increasingly thorough. Summarizing the above work experience, we can get three inspirations: first, the pubic opinion warfare needs a clear guiding concept; second, the public opinion warfare should be actively waged with “the rhetoric they know” and the help of “external mouths”; and third, the public opinion warfare should be constantly upgraded, regardless of form, for practical results.