ABSTRACTS

Viewpoints

Some Recommendations on Enhancing China’s Public Diplomacy Jia Qingguo •1•

After the meeting between the presidents of China and the United States in San Francisco in November 2023, Professor Jia Qingguo, member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, former dean of the School of International Relations of Peking University, and director of the PKU Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, expressed his views on China-US peopleto- people exchanges, expounded its important role in improving China-US relations, and analyzed the development prospects of China-US relations in several interviews and conference speeches. On March 4, 2024, the second plenary session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee was opened in Beijing, when Professor Jia submitted two proposals to the CPPCC National Committee, namely, the Proposal on Encouraging Ordinary People to Tell China Stories Well to the Outside World, and the Proposal on Increasing Efforts to Attract Foreign Students to Study in China. In these two proposals, he analyzed the reasons for the decrease of foreign students in China in recent years, especially those from developed countries. In view of the current rise in negative perceptions of China among people in foreign countries, particularly in neighboring countries, he sorted out the misunderstandings that hinder us from telling China stories well, and put forward specific suggestions for improvement, which will shed some light on China’s public diplomacy work.

Special Topic: Global Public Health andPublic Diplomacy Global Health Diplomacy under the Framework of the World Health Organization (WHO) Ren Minghui •8•

This paper examined the important role played by WHO in global health diplomacy, expounded the characteristics of global health diplomacy under the WHO framework, and emphasized that in global health diplomacy and health governance, despite the increasing role of non-state actors, the leading role of sovereign states is irreplaceable, which seeks alignment of and balance between technical expertise and political considerations, as well as between national interests and the common interests of mankind in global health.

China-US Public Health Cooperation: History, Status Quo and Prospect Jin Yinzi & Zheng Zhijie •16•

In November 2023, on the occasion of attending the APEC Summit, the heads of state of China and the United States met in San Francisco, the United States, which aroused great attention from the international community. The strategic decisions made by the two heads of state have far-reaching implications and are of great significance to the development of China-US relations. At present, China-US relations still face serious challenges. As a result, public health has become one of the few areas of cooperation where the two sides share common interests and concerns and can work together, which could be a breakthrough to ease China-US relations and restart cooperation between the two countries. By reviewing the history of China-US public health cooperation over the past four decades or so, this paper summarized the opportunities and challenges facing China-US public health cooperation today, and put forward some thoughts and suggestions for the next step of bilateral cooperation.

A Probe into the Training Model of Chinese Health Diplomacy Talents Wang Jie & Xu Ming •26•

In recent years, China has actively participated in and promoted the reform and construction of the global health governance system. Health diplomacy is a necessary way to develop and improve the global health governance system, while the training of relevant talents is the cornerstone of building a competent health diplomacy team. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China has generally formed a health diplomacy talents training model based on overseas exchanges, government training and college education. At present, China’s health diplomacy talents training is in the phase of reform and innovation, which calls for enhancement in planning and institution, training programs, talent pool management and college education. In view of the problems exposed by different training models, the government and universities should optimize the talents training system and accelerate the building of the health diplomacy team, so as to better play China’s leading role in global health governance and promote the building of a global community of health for all.

ASEAN’s Inclusive Health Collaborative Governance Network from the Perspective of Public Diplomacy Zhang Lei •35•

Health cooperation is an important way for ASEAN and its member states to conduct publicdiplomacy with internal and external actors. By matching supply and demand, sharing knowledge, bridging differences and optimizing allocation, ASEAN’s multi-layered public health diplomacy has promoted the building of an inclusive and collaborative governance network, boosted the rapid development of the regional health cooperation mechanism with the joint prevention and control of infectious diseases as the core, and enhanced the core national capacity of ASEAN countries to respond to health security threats. ASEAN actively cultivates diversified entities, expands the channels of health public diplomacy, and makes use of the inclusive collaborative governance network to promote the progress of regional health governance, which provides a useful example for promoting highquality development of China-ASEAN public diplomacy and an important reference for the reform and innovation of global health governance.

Health Cooperation and Conflict Resolution: NGO Health Service Operations in Northern Myanmar Yang Jiayi & Wang Tianze •43•

Since the end of the Cold War, “health for peace” has increasingly become an important agenda in the field of conflict resolution and peace-building. Practice has proved that the actual effectiveness of health service operations in conflictstricken areas has gone beyond the scope of health, and can exert certain impacts on social governance, thus creating a favorable environment for peace and promoting the peace process. As an important provider of health services in conflict areas, NGOs not only enhance the interaction and connection between individuals through health service projects, but also promote trust between different groups and actors by forging a “depoliticized” space, thereby gradually eliminating contradictions and conflict between conflicting parties from the bottom up and creating possibilities for promoting further political integration.

Summary

The Practice, Characteristics and Trends of Global Public Diplomacy in 2023 Wang Lina •55•

At present, great changes in the world are accelerating. The change of the has entered a new period of turbulence and change. In such a period, regional conflicts, the climate crisis, health security and other issues keep cropping up, population size and structure are changing rapidly, and the technology revolution has accelerated the development of human society. In this context, a country’s reputation and credibility are put to the test, while public diplomacy plays an important part in influencing international relations and reshaping national influence. This paper summarized the latest practices of the world’s major countries in the field of public diplomacy in recent years, especially in 2023, analyzed the characteristics and trends of global public diplomacy in the period of turmoil and change in the world, and put forward several reflections on China’s public diplomacy in the new era.

Practice of Public Diplomacy

The Role of the Charhar Institute in Promoting Regional Peace Liu Junguo •65•

Exploring the development and characteristics of “ conflict and peace studies”, which is a long-term work direction established by the Charhar Institute, and its role in promoting regional peace will help to understand how China’s nongovernmental think tanks provide solutions and programs for promoting regional peace and implement them into the practice of public diplomacy. This is of positive significance for strengthening the advantages of non-governmental think tanks and accelerating the transformation of their efforts into achievements. This paper, taking the Institute’s recent development in “conflict and peace studies” as the main line and its typical cases in promoting regional peace as the auxiliary line, outlined the mutual transformation process of the Institute’s research and practice. Since the establishment of “conflict and peace studies” as the third research direction of the Charhar Institute in 2014, it has gone through three phases, in which the Institute has performed the typical function as a think tank in the process of promoting regional peace.

How Can International Students Tell China Stories Well from the Perspective of Public Diplomacy—As in the Case of Lebanese Students Clarifying the Truth during the Wuhan Epidemic Huang Chao & Xiong Ranran •74•

Telling China stories well and building China’s image is one of the important tasks in the current diplomatic work of China. Public diplomacy is a major part of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and a big stage for telling China stories well. International students in China have a dual identity of foreigners and students studying in China, thus having conditions to change from “listeners” to “narrators” in China’s public diplomacy activities. In the context of public diplomacy, international students have the advantages of being hands-on, empathic and precise in telling China stories well. Through empirical research and analysis, we found that international students need to have a correct understanding of China’s characteristics, a mastery of the required language, and the ability to compare different countries, as well as abilities in policy analysis, diplomatic negotiation and media relations management before telling China stories well. To improve their capabilities in these aspects, we need to further enhance international students’ understanding of the concept of public diplomacy.

The Construction of China’s Image in Green Development against the Background of Western “Environmental Populism” Peng Weibu •82•

The rise of “environmental populism” in Europe and the United States, on the one hand, helps to promote the global concept of green environmental protection, and on the other hand, it has become a “political tool” used by ultraenvironmentalists to coerce the government, kidnap public opinion, and even force the government to implement extreme environmental protection policies with violence. Together with the Western media, they criticize China’s carbon emission policy, stigmatize China’s green goal of “carbon neutrality”, and require China to reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the will of the West in an attempt to deprive China of its right to development. In the face of stigmatization by the Western media and ultra-environmentalists, China should not only safeguard its own development rights, but also conform to the trend of green environmental protection in the world in promoting the use green energy and demonstrating China’s determination to achieve the goal of “carbon neutrality” with concrete data, so as to build the image of China’s green development.

Theoretical Research

Tea for Harmony: The Construction of a Tea Public Diplomacy System from the Perspective of Mutual Learning among Civilizations Tan Meng •92•

In recent years, “tea diplomacy” has helped expand the space for majorcountry diplomacy, and innovated the field of public diplomacy in its evolution towards “ tea socializing”, highlighting the contemporary value of the fine traditional Chinese culture, enhancing the communication power and influence of Chinese civilization, and promoting mutual learning among civilizations in the world. On the one hand, the “way of harmony and collaboration” embodied in Chinese tea culture reproduces the features of continuity, innovation, unity and inclusiveness of Chinese civilization, and promotes mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations through tea as a medium, constituting the necessary content and advantageous resources of modernity and peace of Chinese civilization. On the other hand, in the face of the great transformation of the world unseen in a century, China’s public diplomacy needs to make new contributions to global security, development and civilization, which calls China to integrate and give full play to the endowment advantages of tea culture, tea industry and tea technology in boosting exchanges and cooperation, global governance and shared prosperity, in order to promote the participation and interaction of diverse actors, enhance mutual learning among civilizations, and build a three-dimensional, harmony”.

Public Diplomacy by Social Think Tank and an Analysis of the Differences between Chinese and Foreign Think Tanks— Construction and Practice of Social Think Tank Public Diplomacy Tian Shichen & Zhuang Yuan •100•

This paper explored the concept and significance of public diplomacy and think tank public diplomacy. Public diplomacy refers to diplomatic activities of a country to promote cooperation, enhance understanding, and elevate national interests and image through communication and interaction with the public of foreign countries. Social think tanks are positioned to provide policy advice and decision support through independent research, serving as a professional consultant for the government, decision-makers, business and the public. Compared with other types of think tanks, social think tanks have the unique advantages of independence, flexibility, diversity in expert resources and internationalization. From the perspective of implementing the practical elements of think tank public diplomacy, social think tanks play a unique role in promoting public diplomacy. However, from the comparison of social think tanks in the East and the West, there are obvious differences between the two sides in such aspects as public welfare tax policy, endogenous driving force of enterprise participation, talent supply model, decision-making culture and diversified needs, the overall status of social science research, etc. These gaps also bring certain challenges to the participation of Chinese social think tanks in public diplomacy.

Book Review

The Irreplaceability of City Diplomacy is Highlighted: A Book Review of City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects Han Zhuoxi •108•

The book City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects is a collection of outstanding researches on “global cities”. The book focused on such topics as the global city network, local strategies for global engagement and communication, city diplomacy at different levels of governance, and other related practices. Through a combination of theoretical research and practical cases, this book analyzed in depth and detail the interactions between cities, and between cities and nation-states, non-governmental organizations and foreign publics, and logically extended the relevant issues derived from “global cities”, such as how to build a global city system, whether the global city can produce the effect of “denationalization”, and whether such a city can develop into a new type of political venue. The book has brought together the latest insights from industry and academia, and studied typical city cases, making it a masterpiece of research on city internationalization, city diplomacy, and global cities.