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Diplomacy in East Asia
Jan Polišenský, MSc., Ph.D.
Spring 2019
Public Diplomacy and Cultural
Diplomacy
Jan Polišenský, MSc., Ph.D.
Spring 2019
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Public Diplomacy
• Public diplomacy is a term, concept, practice and multidisciplinary field
of study. As a diplomatic practice, which preceded its conceptual and
scholarly foundations, it centers on diplomatic communication
between political entities (kings in ancient times and nation-states
today) and people (that is, publics), usually in foreign countries but,
according to some accounts, also domestic publics.
Public Diplomacy
• Public diplomacy expert Jian Wang put it this way:
– ‘With worldwide proliferation of media technologies and facile and affordable
information access, the credibility and efficacy of the national government, as
the primary communicator, are now often suspect.’
– He suggests that there are three levels of public diplomacy activity, each of
which requires the involvement of a different configuration of actors:
• promoting a country’s national goals and policies (primarily national
actors);
• communicating a nation’s ideas and ideals, beliefs and values (national and
sub-national actors);
• building common understanding and relationships (primarily subnational
actors).
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The Concept of Public Diplomacy
• It is generally agreed that public diplomacy distinguishes itself from
traditional diplomacy by targeting non-governmental publics,
whereas traditional diplomacy concerns government-to-government
relations.
• There is no agreement, however, on how public diplomacy should be
defined, or what it exactly entails.
• Both the concept and practice of public diplomacy are in constant
flux.
Public Diplomacy
• During the past two decades, a theoretical paradigm shift has taken
place from traditional, state-centered, and hierarchically organized
public diplomacy to a network or ‘new’ public diplomacy model that
involves awide variety of actors and promotes dialog and
collaboration.
• In the traditional model, the state—often the foreign ministry—
monitors the interactions between domestic and international policy
environments, and public diplomacy is characterized by top—down
information flows and a focus on strategic and mass communication.
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Public Diplomacy
• People are seen as targets and instruments of foreign policy, and the
effort is on targeting them more effectively
• Public diplomacy in this model is ‘competitive’—that is, policies are
part of bilateral diplomacy strategies, which serve national interests
and which compete with other countries’ strategies
Public Diplomacy
• Globalization and the rise of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and other non-state actors’ involvement in diplomacy,
however, have led to less clearly delineated roles and responsibilities
for actors in international relations.
• Foreign ministries no longer have a monopoly on diplomacy;
nonhierarchical public policy networks consisting of state and nonstate
actors have become essential in managing international relations
• Most governments conduct public diplomacy to seek support for a
policy or to promote an image, as well as to develop dialogs and build
relationships in order to enhance understanding and co-create
solutions to transnational problems
•
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Public Diplomacy
• In practice, most countries’ public diplomacy can be considered a
combination of state-centered and network-based public
diplomacy.
– In this hybrid model, state actors are usually the initiator and/or
supporter and/or coordinator of public diplomacy actions, but they
increasingly develop and conduct public diplomacy in close
cooperation with members of networks that include both state and
non-state actors.
– Most governments conduct public diplomacy to seek support for a
policy or to promote an image, as well as to develop dialogs and build
relationships in order to enhance understanding and co-create
solutions to transnational problems.
Public Diplomacy 2.0
• The development of new forms of public diplomacy with greater roles
for the public is linked to and reinforced by ongoing technological
developments.
• New technologies have created a communication dynamic in the
international political arena that is characterized by more connectivity,
interactivity and cultural diversity.
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Public Diplomacy 2.0
• The internet, mobile phones and social media interactions such as
Twitter and Facebook have opened interactive, flexible, easy-to-use and
ever-faster channels of communication.
• These new tools facilitate social networking and enable public
diplomacy actors to multiply their outreach, as messages disseminated
via the internet can reach a global audience.
• As a result, audiences and debates are increasingly moving online, and
blog posts and tweets are becoming sources of information as
important as newspaper op-eds
Public Diplomacy 2.0
• In public diplomacy practice, the rise of social media has led to new
initiatives that are often referred to as digital diplomacy, or public
diplomacy 2.0
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Public Diplomacy 2.0
• The rise of social media furthermore forces diplomats and other
actors to react fast.
• Global audiences may learn about an action or event with diplomatic
implications via YouTube, Facebook or Twitter within minutes,
sometimes even before policymakers or diplomats.
– “Debates and positions are shaping up well before they hit
newspapers,” and if officials take time carefully to formulate official
positions, they miss chances to shape the debate.
Public Diplomacy 2.0
• On the one hand, the new media ‘democratize information,’ as they
permit direct access to policy- and decision makers and thus enable
people to bypass hierarchies.
• The increased transparency thus lends legitimacy to messages.
• On the other hand, the new media allow communicators to be
anonymous and manipulate information or spread false information.
• Furthermore, they have fragmented audiences, as people are provided
with a choice of sources of information, thus enabling them to
consume information in a very selective way.
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Public Diplomacy 2.0
• This raises the question of the extent to which officials should be
allowed to communicate freely via social media such as Twitter and
Facebook in private and/or official capacities.
• This question is answered differently in each country and official body,
although in many Western countries the use of social media by
individual official actors is allowed or even encouraged.
• In China, as we will see, the government is exploring the use of social
media, but struggles with the transparency that it involves.
Public Diplomacy and Soft Power
• Joseph Nye
– Soft power refers to attraction as a form of power; it is “the ability to
get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or
payment,”
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Public Diplomacy and Soft Power
• The concept of soft power has provided an important foundation for
public diplomacy.
• It informs and justifies the development and implementation of public
diplomacy strategies and, as Kathy Fitzpatrick has pointed out, “has
contributed significantly to public diplomacy’s rise in foreign affairs.”
Public Diplomacy and Soft Power
• Public diplomacy is a tool that may wield or generate soft power, by
linking soft power resources to preferred outcomes.
• It is an instrument of what Nye calls ‘power conversion’: a process of
communication and collaboration that may transform soft power
resources into attraction and behavioral outcome.
• As critics point out, however, Nye remains rather vague on how this
transformation process works.
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Public Diplomacy and Soft Power
• Nye’s soft power resources include culture, values, legitimate policies, a
positive domestic model, successful economy and a capable military.
• The sources of soft power should not be confused with soft power
itself;
• whether or not a resource can be converted into a preferred outcome
depends on the behavior of the messenger, the context, and in
particular on the perceptions of the targeted audience.
• Attraction lies in the eye of the beholder; a resource that is attractive to
one audience can be disliked by another.
Public Diplomacy and Propaganda
• Public diplomacy is sometimes equated with propaganda.
• Until Gullion introduced the term ‘public diplomacy’ in 1965, the term
‘propaganda’ was often used for what we now call public diplomacy
activities.
• Propaganda activities were accepted as an instrument of government
and the working of propaganda was extensively studied.
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Public Diplomacy and Propaganda
• Even today, some scholars define propaganda neutrally: as a technique
or a tool to disseminate ideas and information in order to influence
opinions and attitudes in a way that serves the propagandist.
• Defined this way, propaganda can be used for either good or bad ends,
and aptly covers many activities that we now prefer to call public
diplomacy
Public Diplomacy and Propaganda
• For most people, however, the term ‘propaganda’ is inextricably
bound with negative associations such as ‘lies,’ ‘deceit,’ ‘manipulations,’
or even ‘brainwashing.’
• Many scholars have therefore sought to differentiate conceptually
between propaganda and public diplomacy.
• A number of them regard the communication’s character as the major
distinguishing factor between the two concepts.
• They build upon the work of Jacques Ellul, who in 1973 pointed out
that propaganda consists of one-way communication, excluding an
exchange of ideas or discussion.
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Public Diplomacy and Propaganda
• Garth Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, for example, draw on an older military
understanding of propaganda work and distinguish black, gray and white
propaganda.
– In ‘black’ propaganda, the identity of the source is deliberately concealed or
distorted and/or the information provided is inaccurate.
– ‘White propaganda’ refers to a message that contains truthful information
and comes from an identifiable sourcse, but that may be one-sided to favor
the strategy of the propagandist.
– ‘Gray propaganda’ lies somewhere in the middle: it may have an identifiable
source, but it is not certain whether the information is accurate, or whether
the information seems accurate but the source is not clear.
Public Diplomacy and Propaganda
• In many works on propaganda, it is the intent of the propagandist to
manipulate the beliefs or behavior of others that is seen as defining
propaganda, and as such it comes close to the traditional model of public
diplomacy where actors aim to influence others.
• Propaganda in its neutral meaning thus overlaps to a large extent with public
diplomacy, as activities aimed at providing information can be considered a
form of ‘white propaganda.’
• Looking at the character of communication, however, public diplomacy is, as
Jan Melissen puts it, “similar to propaganda in that it tries to persuade people
what to think, but is fundamentally different in the sense that public
diplomacy also listens to what people have to say.”
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Subsets of Public Diplomacy
• Citizen diplomacy refers to contacts among people of different nations, as
opposed to official contacts between government officials or between
officials and people.
• Citizen diplomacy is vital for building relationships with the international
community and, as citizen contacts may transcend political difficulties, it is a
useful form of diplomacy when relations between countries are problematic
and official contacts have been frozen.
• Citizen diplomacy uses instruments such as academic grants and exchanges,
visitor programs, twinning activities, ‘business for public diplomacy’
initiatives, and sports and cultural activities.
• A special category of citizen diplomacy is track-II diplomacy, which concerns
the unofficial discussion by nongovernmental actors—often academics,
activists and journalists—about specific topics on the agenda of formal
diplomatic negotiations
Subsets of Public Diplomacy
• Cultural diplomacy can be defined as “the exchange of ideas, information, art, and
other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual
understanding.”
• It refers to activities such as cultural performances, exhibitions, cultural and film
festivals, language promotion and participation in World Expositions.
• Like citizen diplomacy, cultural diplomacy is an important tool when relations
between countries or societies are strained, as it often helps in “overcoming
conventional barriers that separate peoples” and keeps open negotiating channels
with countries where political connections are in jeopardy.
• Cultural relations seem to have become more important in today’s world as an
instrument to bridge gaps in understanding and to “recalibrate relationships for
changing times with emerging powers.”
• As a recent report for the British Council notes, there is “a growing seriousness
about, and expenditure on, cultural relations in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,
India, China) and more widely across Asia and the Middle East.
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New Public Diplomacy And
‘Beyond The New’
• Twenty-first-century public diplomacy, or what is now called ‘new public
diplomacy’, has several origins.
• The ‘new’ prefix for public diplomacy has rapidly achieved traction, and it has
helped the field and practice of public diplomacy to bloom and crystallize
twenty-first-century public diplomacy’s key normative characteristics.
• Contemporary public diplomacy needs to – or should – encompass at least
two features: first, a multi-actor approach, with many actors above and below
the level of national government and different types of nongovernmental
actors at home and abroad; and second, the formation of relations between
them through dialogue and networking activities.
New Public Diplomacy And
‘Beyond The New’
• The United States invests heavily in what it terms twentyfirst- century
statecraft, with multi-language Twitter feeds, Facebook accounts and
participation in other social media networks, combined with many
other actions, such as the Civil Society 2.0 initiative
• A dark side also exists to digital communication, as shown by Islamic State
extremists whose members’ medieval brutality is equaled only by the
sophistication of their communications.
• They have mastered the use of state-of-the-art videos, ground images shot
from drones and multilingual Twitter messages intended to appeal to youths,
recruit fighters and intimidate enemies
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Cultural Diplomacy
• Some people, however, argue explicitly against cultural diplomacy
becoming a tool of public diplomacy, as they see the value of cultural
activities lying with the independence and freedom of the artist
• The danger of cultural diplomacy being mistrusted or regarded as
propaganda indeed exists when governments see cultural diplomacy as
a key institution of foreign policy and thus interfere in the creation of
cultural expressions.
Cultural Diplomacy
• They understand the need to maintain distance from cultural
diplomacy activities, but still like to have some influence in the overall
approach and policy plans.
• They thus sometimes delegate cultural diplomacy to so-called armslength
cultural institutions. Examples include the British Council (UK),
Goethe Institut (Germany), Instituto Cervantes (Spain), Alliance Française
(France) and the Japan Foundation (Japan). The Confucius Institutes
(China) are a special case
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Cultural Diplomacy
• In this way, the government’s role can be limited to supporting or
promoting the exchange of independently created expressions of
culture, and the danger of becoming associated with propaganda is
limited.
Strategic communication
• Another subset of public diplomacy is strategic communications,
a term that is understood very differently by different groups and in
different countries.
• Some define it broadly and regard public diplomacy as a subset of
strategic communications, but in this study strategic communications is
considered as a function or subset of public diplomacy
• Strategic communication is understood as those strategies and activities
within the domain of public diplomacy that primarily aim to achieve
long-term, well-defined goals on selected themes.
• Public diplomacy goes beyond that, as it serves broader and sometimes
more diffuse aims, such as building long-term relationships that are
focused on more diffuse mutual understanding.
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Strategic communication
• Finally, the concept of branding is understood as partially overlapping
with public diplomacy.
• Put simply, nation-branding is the application of corporate branding
techniques to countries.
• It is based on the idea that: [. . .] the reputations of countries are
analogous to the brand images of companies and products, and are
equally critical to the progress and prosperity of those countries
because of their influence on the opinions and behaviours of each
country’s ‘target audiences.’
Cultural Diplomacy
• Culture provides meeting points for exposition and explanation, for
dialogue and debate.
• At the same time, music and the performing arts can convey images
of creativity, vitality and vibrancy.
• Throughout the Cold War, the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets presented a
more approachable face of the USSR, and, today, Brazil is known far
more for its carnival than its politics.
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Cultural Diplomacy
• Cultural exchange has been intertwined with the pursuit of foreign
relations throughout history.
• cultural diplomacy as one facet of international relations, as one of the
‘soft’ aspects of living together on the planet, rather than the ‘hard’
stuff of laws and treaties, multilateral organisations and military
capability.
Cultural Diplomacy
• security expert Walter Laqueur,
– ‘Cultural diplomacy, in the widest sense, has increased in importance,
whereas traditional diplomacy and military power . . . are of limited
use.
• United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in
which Article 27(1) states that:
– ‘Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific advancement
and its benefits.
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Cultural Diplomacy
• Getting the relationship right between politics and culture can deliver
real results.
• Get it wrong, and relationships can be soured for a generation.
• Seemingly small things can have serious repercussions: India still
smarts at George W Bush’s failure to travel to the Taj Mahal during his
2006 visit.
Cultural Diplomacy
• Culture keeps doors open in difficult times
• At times of political difficulty, when diplomats are not even able to sit
around the negotiating table together, culture can keep doors open
until relations improve.
• There is no better contemporary example than that of our relationship
with Iran, where the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
2005 has strained relations.
• Iran has a long and proud cultural history, and a cultural tradition,
particularly in literature and architecture, that imbues all aspects of life.
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Cultural Diplomacy
• Cultural institutions are able to operate in ways that are impossible for
diplomats at times of political difficulties.
• As many examples in this report suggest, these opportunities are often missed
or underutilised.
• There are numerous examples of cultural contacts enduring through periods
of strained political relations, and in the past even being maintained in times
of war.
• Examples include cultural organisations hosting a visit by Madame Ne Win of
Myanmar, maintaining a scholarly research programme in North Korea, and
collaborating with Syria on the construction of the EU-funded website
Discover Islamic Art
Cultural Diplomacy
• Emerging powers already understand the importance of cultural diplomacy in
their external relations and are actively developing this aspect of their foreign
policy.
• For India, in an era when power is a ‘continuous strategic project’ rather
than a once and for all acquisition, culture is ever more important as a means
to maintain and expand its new-found position on the world stage.
• As the Indian prime minister put it:
– ‘The Indian influence across much of Asia has been one of culture, language,
religion, ideas and values, not of bloody conquest. We have always been
respected for our traditional export, knowledge. Does that not also make
India a “global superpower”, though not in the traditional sense? Can this not
be the power we seek in the next century?’
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Cultural Diplomacy
• India is engaged in a comprehensive programme of cultural diplomacy.
• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations is setting up offices in Washington
and Paris, to complement the existing 18 offices that are mainly in places with
large Indian diaspora communities.
• The country is currently the focus of a four-month festival of culture at the Palais
des Beaux Arts in Brussels.
• India stole the show at the Davos World Economic Forum in January 2006 with
its capture of the ‘creative imperative’ debate and its widely publicised campaign
‘India Everywhere’. It was theme country for the Bonn Biennale, partner country
for the Hanover Trade Fair and guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
• In the UK, the British Museum is holding the 2006/07 Voices of Bengal
Programme and the Royal Academy is staging the exhibition Chola: Sacred Bronzes
of Southern India. India is actively using culture to expand its influence around the
world
Cultural Diplomacy
• Laying emphasis on a certain part of its cultural tradition is therefore
an important feature of China’s image management.
• In so doing, cultural diplomacy is used to appeal to pre-existing
concepts of culture and value and, from the Chinese point of view,
exhibitions like China: The Three Emperors seek to impart carefully
managed meaning. In 2007/08, the BM will host The First Emperor:
China’s Terracotta Army, which will include the largest ever loan of
figures from the Terracotta Army with which the First Emperor, Qin
Shihuangdi, was buried.
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Cultural Diplomacy
• Famous the world over, these artefacts are the very heart of Chinese heritage,
history and identity.
• Sending them to London, to occupy a space alongside the defining objects of
a large number of the world’s cultures, is a very significant act. Contemporary
Chinese culture is also drawing crowds. China was well represented at the
2006 Frieze Art Fair in London, and every year the streets of the world’s
Chinatowns are filled with people of all cultures watching dragon dancers and
celebrating Chinese New Year.
• In 2008, there were a series of major Chinese-themed and collaborative
events when the Olympic Games are passed from China to the UK
The Reach of Culture
• Mass popular culture has a global reach.
– This is not a new phenomenon – Hollywood has been providing
points of common reference for a century – but it is changing in scale,
speed and effect. Franchised television programmes, such as Who
Wants to be a Millionaire? and The Weakest Link are becoming
shared cultural forms; exported programmes like Friends, Coronation
Street or Sex and the City are windows onto life somewhere else; and
pop music mixes and mingles blues, bhangra and reggae in a riot of
hybridity
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The Reach of Culture
• Food is another important cultural export.
• Recognising the importance of its cuisine, Thailand has used restaurants
overseas as a means of promoting its culture and tourism.
• In 2003, the government launched ‘Global Thai’, a plan to boost the number
of Thai restaurants around the world in a bid to drive tourism and promote
awareness of Thailand.
• The popularity of the first McDonald’s restaurant in the former USSR in the
late 1980s sent a potent message of popular rejection of the Soviet model.
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is China’s favourite brand, and today, the
dominance of western brands in places like China and India is brought into
acute focus by the presence of a Starbucks in Beijing’s Forbidden City – a
presence that is now the focus of a cultural battle of its own.
The Reach of Culture
• Another factor affecting mass cultural exchange and interaction is the
step change that has occurred in the use of the internet.
• The emergence of YouTube, where every day millions of people watch
over 70 million videos, and other social websites like Bebo and
MySpace have generated a more participatory form of globalised
culture.
• Social software has multiplied spaces for, and forms of, cultural
communication, creating a multitude of points of connection that do
not respect borders or conventional definitions of nations
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Conclusion
• First, that culture has an important role to play.
• Second, that effective public diplomacy systems will be those that can
cope with this new level of complexity and all the challenges that it
throws up, from straightforward coordination, to the difficult business
of judging the difference between engaging with culture and co-opting
it for political ends
The Relationship Between Culture
And Politics Is Not Always Benign
• The reverse side of the coin of culture ‘keeping doors open’ is that
cultural institutions sometimes work in fragile political circumstances.
• There are numerous examples of instances where culture has caused
problems for politics, and vice versa.
• In December 2006, France’s relations with Iran were unsettled when
one of the Louvre’s exhibition guides featured a map with ‘the Persian
Gulf’ relabelled as ‘the Arabian Gulf’.
• Iranian cultural organisations accused the museum of ‘geographical
revisionism’, and even attempting to rewrite history in the service of
their substantial Arab funders.
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Next Generation Cultural Diplomacy
• Thomas Friedman, in his book The World is Flat, calls this Globalisation 3.0.
• The rise of new technologies, the new possibilities offered by the internet, the
growth of global communication and the proliferation of cheap international
travel are providing individual citizens with the tools to influence politics
from the comfort – and anonymity – of their own homes.
• Friedman argues that the countries that will be the leaders of tomorrow are
those that have the infrastructure to connect with these new technological
platforms, equip their citizens with the tools and capacity to cope, and have
structures of governance in place to manage the potential negative side
effects
Twitter Diplomacy
• The use of social network by heads of state, leaders of intergovernmental
organizations such as United Nations, and their diplomats to conduct
diplomatic outreach is popularly known as “Twiplomacy” or “hashtag
diplomacy” or “Facebook diplomacy”
• At least 97 percent of all 193 UN member states are currently active on
Twitter
• Social media has become a primary conduit of diplomacy
– It has gone from being an afterthought to the very first thought of world
leaders and governments across the globe, as audiences flock to their Twitter
newsfeeds for the latest news and statements
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Twitter – Top accounts
Rank Change Owner Followers in mil. ????
1 - Katy Perry 107 Music
2 Barack Obama 106 Politician
3 Justin Bieber 105 Music
4 Rihanna 90 Music
5 Taylor Swift 83 Music
6 Lady Gaga 78 Music
7 Cristiano Ronaldo 77 Sport
8 Ellen DeGeneres 77 Comedian
9 YouTube 71
10 Justin Timberlake 65 Music
11 Ariana Grande 62 Music
12 Kim Kardashian 60 Music
13 Donald Trump 60 Politician
14 Selena Gomez 87
New Media
• Influencer ???
• Youtuber ???
• Follower ???
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They Speak For Themselves! Or not ?
• They speak for themselves!
• Other leaders who tweet themselves include
– European Council President (@DonaldTusk),
– Denmark’s Prime Minister (@LarsLoekke)
– Rasmussen and Foreign Minister (@AndersSamuelsen),
– Latvia’s Foreign Minister (@EdgarsRinkevics), and
– Norway’s Prime Minister (@Erna_Solberg)
• who admitted to suffering from dyslexia and makes the
occasional spelling mistake.
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Donald Trump
• Undeniably, Donald Trump has made the biggest
• Impact on Twitter
• @realDonaldTrump - more than 52 million followers
• The U.S. President has also changed the tone of discourse on Twitter,
frequently insulting his opponents and lampooning foreign leaders, calling
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “little rocket man,” describing the Syrian
president as a “gas killing animal,” and threatening air strikes and war via
tweets.
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Twitterdiplomacy
• “Donald Trump, Unfiltered.”
– Twitter is Trump’s indispensable tool
• He is able to connect so consistently and directly with the public
– a wonderful venue for conspiracy theories
– nothing as “domestic political content” ??
• a way to promote the president’s agenda while bypassing what he
disparages as the “Fake News.”
• “The old-fashioned policymaking process does not seem to be
working, and I don’t think Twitter should be a substitute for that.”
• His language
– far away from the diplomacy
– Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come
here?
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Angela Merkel and FB
• Leaving Facebook
• In early February 2019, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made
headlines announcing her decision to delete her personal Facebook
page @AngelaMerkel.
• In a farewell video message on the page, she thanked her followers for
their support and asked them to follow the governmental accounts on
Facebook and Instagram instead. By the time of the deletion, her page
had 2,541,471 followers, making her the most followed EU leader on
the platform.
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• In mid-March 2019, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta temporarily
deleted all his social media profiles, including his Facebook page which
has 3.6 million followers and is the most followed Sub-Saharan African
leader. The profiles were taken down because of ‘unauthorized access,’
according to his chief of staff, and they have not been revived yet. The
official page POTUS page set up for the President of the United
States, which has 2,666,220 followers, has been dormant since May
2018 as President Donald Trump prefers to use his personal page.
• It is highly unusual for world leaders to delete their social media pages
during their life time.
• The page of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the page
of Nelson Mandela continue to be managed by their respective
foundations.
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India’s Public Diplomacy
• India has long seemed unable or unwilling to become a major player
on the world stage.
• The Indian Foreign Service (IFS), the bureaucracy that staffs India’s
top diplomatic institutions, is tiny for a country with global ambitions:
a mere 900 people.
– Representing India’s 1.2 billion people is a foreign service that is
roughly the same size as that of New Zealand (population 4.4 million)
or Singapore (5.3 million).
– By comparison, the United States’ is around 15,000 and China’s
around 5,000
India’s Public Diplomacy
• What India lacks in diplomatic muscle, however, it makes up in soft
power. It boasts Bollywood, Yoga, Buddhism, and a rich philosophical
tradition.
• For years, though, the country’s soft power potential has remained
largely untapped.
• Previous administrations have taken incremental steps to make better
use of it, including by establishing a small public diplomacy division
within the Ministry of External Affairs in 2006 and expanding the
Indian Council for Cultural Relations worldwide
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India Public Diplomacy
• Modi has several tools at his disposal.
• First, he has made outreach to the 25-million-strong Indian diaspora a
set-piece in major overseas visits.
• Many among the diaspora are relatively wealthy, well connected, and—
unlike overseas Chinese—increasingly politically engaged.
• Indeed, there are active India caucuses in the U.S. Congress and Senate,
and Indian Americans play an increasingly prominent role in campaign
finance.
India Public Diplomacy
• Speaking in Hindi, Modi on a rally of 18,000 overseas Indians in Madison
Square Garden (New York, USA) to
– “join hands and serve mother India.”
– He asked them to help boost India’s international image and encourage
foreign direct investment.
– Modi has delivered similar messages to overseas Indians in Japan and in
Australia.
• It is too early to tell whether these initiatives will succeed, but the rockstar
greeting tens of thousands of overseas Indians have given Modi on these
trips suggests that he has at least succeeded in capturing the diaspora’s
imagination.
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Yoga Diplomacy
• India celebrated when in 2014 the United Nations adopted the 21st of June
as International Yoga Day
• During his electoral campaign in New Delhi in 2013, Narendra Damodardas
Modi, who became Prime Minister of India a year later, stated “ India ’ s
journey has gone from snake charmers to mouse charmers! ” , adding, “ the
youth of the nation has its finger on the mouse of computers and is changing
the world ”
• During his address to the joint session of the US Congress in June 2016,
Modi revealed approximately 30 million people in the United States practice
yoga, a system of body and mind practices that evolved in ancient India.
Yoga Diplomacy
• An old Indian saying
– (if you can get your work done through a needle, you do not need a sword.)
• India ’ s ancient image as a “ golden bird ” , a land of spiritual knowledge, a
land of spices, gold, diamond, ivories, enchanted merchants, explorers and
navigators, is well established
• India’s soft power assets
– soft-mannered Mahatma Gandhi, a saint among politicians and a
politician among saints, or India ’ s spiritual and cultural depth, its vast
landscape, its diversity, the ancient, and traditional, portrayal of the Hindu
religion as a tolerant and pluralistic religion has helped India portray itself as a
peaceful and tolerant nation.
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Yoga Diplomacy
• The US Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, argued, “ The essence of
the Hinduism that I practice is karma yoga and bhakti yoga,
which means to love God and all [emphasis hers] of His
children, regardless of their race, religion, etc., and to use my
life working for the well-being of everyone ”
• Nehru ’ s concept “ unity in diversity ” conceptualizes this synthetic
character of India ’ s soft power.
India’s Soft Power
• Undoubtedly, one of the most famous ambassadors of India ’ s soft
power was Mahatma Gandhi.
– A non-resident Indian in South Africa for 21 years (1893 – 1914), the
Britain educated lawyer, Gandhi shot to fame while fighting against
injustice in South Africa.
– Gandhi made famous the principles of truth and non- violence
during his struggle in South Africa, and practiced those in India
against the British rule.
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India’s Soft Power
• Mahatma Gandhi inspired thousands of freedom fighters around the
world, and gave the call for an “ Asian Way ” during the Asian
Relations Conference in New Delhi in April 1947
– when he said, “... the message of the East, the message of Asia, is not
to be learnt through European spectacles, through the Western
spectacles ... If you want to give a message again to the West, it must
be a message of ‘ Love ’ , it must be a message of ‘ Truth ’”
Soft Power of India
• India ’ s film industry, Bollywood, is the producer of highest number of
films in the world and is popular in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, the
Middle East, South East Asia and in many other parts of the world.
• During the peak of violence in Afghanistan in 1990s, people never failed to
watch Indian soap opera, Kyun Ki Sass Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
• Indian food, another element of the soft power, has become increasing
popular in various parts of the world. One can easily find an Indian restaurant
in most places. It is noteworthy that many restaurant owners of other South
Asian countries name their eateries Indian. Indian spices too have crept in
several non- Indian households all over the globe. Samosa, chaat, chicken
tikka masala, masala dosa, curries and many such Indian dishes have made
inroads across the globe.¨
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Indian Food
• Indian food, another element of the soft power, has become
increasing popular in various parts of the world.
• One can easily find an Indian restaurant in most places. It is
noteworthy that many restaurant owners of other South Asian
countries name their eateries Indian.
• Indian spices too have crept in several non- Indian households all over
the globe. Samosa, chaat, chicken tikka masala, masala dosa, curries
and many such Indian dishes have made inroads across the globe.¨
India’s Democracy
• Indian democracy has remained an attraction throughout the post-cold
war world, in which more nation-states are turning democratic.
• Despite being a developing economy, with significant level of poverty
and other nation building travails,
• India is known as the largest democracy in the world, while its
neighbours have witnessed coups.
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Cultural Diplomacy in Action
• Nehru amply capitalized on Gandhian principles of non- violence, and
translated it into foreign policy agendas such as Non-alignment or
Principles of Peaceful Co-existence
• The use of social media buttressed India ’ s soft power outreach.
• Unlike the cold war times, when the wars and rivalries were mainly
based on ideological differences, the relations in the post cold war
period have significantly been shaped by the revolution in information
technology.
Modi on Twitter
• The Indian foreign ministry established a new web portal for public
diplomacy in 2006, in which later it uploaded YouTube videos and
pictures and a Facebook page.
• It launched its Twitter account and sent first tweet in July 2010.
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Modi on Twitter
• Modi is also using digital diplomacy to boost his country’s image.
• His platform of choice is Twitter, on which he boasts 9.5 million followers.
– He has used the service to showcase his close relationship with Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe in both English and Japanese,
– welcome foreign companies to invest in India
– Most dramatically, to issue a public invitation for U.S. President Barack Obama to
attend India’s Republic Day celebrations.
– World leaders have been quick to embrace Modi’s online engagement.
• The U.S. National Security Council tweeted its acceptance of Modi’s invitation;
• Modi and his Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, are two of the four
individuals Shinzo Abe follows on Twitter; other leaders, including Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have posted photos of themselves with Modi and
used the platform to restate the importance of ties with India.
India on the Web
• Modi is also active on Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and
StumbleUpon; in November, he shared his first photo on Instagram (it was
from the 25thASEAN Summit in Myanmar and generated 32,000 “likes”).
• In July, India’s Ministry of External Affairs launched a smartphone app that
integrates consular services, information on Indian foreign policy, and a
“Follow your PM” feature that allows users to track Modi’s overseas visits.
• These channels are designed to complement India’s conventional diplomacy,
communicating directly with political elites and publics around the world.
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Indian Diaspora
• The Indian diaspora reached top echelons in American technology
industry and other professions.
• At present, Indian- Americans lead some of the major US companies.
• For example, Satya Nadella is CEO of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai is
CEO of Google, Indra Nooyi is the head of Pepsi Co and the White
House chief of surgeon is Indian – American.
• Soft power is not only limited to the power and potentials of the
diaspora or cultivating the relations with them
Cultural diplomacy under Modi
• Modi came to power in New Delhi in May 2014.
• His policy to use soft power was different from his predecessors in various
ways.
• Some of the major innovations distinguishing Modi from his predecessors
include:
– addressing Indian diaspora during foreign visits
– hosting foreign leaders in different locations of India
– crafting policies such as “ Make in India ”
– and frequently alluding to Indian culture and tradition in speeches.
– Unlike his predecessors, Modi makes it a regular practice to address the
diaspora during his official visits abroad. As mentioned above
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Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
• Modi at USA
– The venue was packed and those unable to find a place through lottery
preferred to watch Modi and listen to his speech outside on the big
screens.
– Accompanied by few US lawmakers, Modi addressed the crowd with
the words “ Hail to Mother India ” , and the crowd joined him.
Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
• The BBC reported
– that Modi received a “ superstar welcome ”
– and argued that Modi ’ s speech was a “ rebranding exercise ” as he “
predicted this would be India ’ s century because of his country ’ s youthful
population and spirit of innovation ”
– Similarly, during his visit to Shanghai in China in May 2015, Fiji in August
2015, Seychelles in March 2015, Brussels in March 2016, and Johannesburg in
July 2016
• Modi, unlike his predecessors, almost made it a custom to address Indian
diaspora, meet Indian origin people
• and even pose with them for selfies !!!!!!
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Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
• Finally, in seeking to overcome the limitations of the Delhi
bureaucracy, Modi has also set about decentralizing elements of India’s
foreign policy.
• At the BRICS Summit last July, Modi used his address to “champion
engagement between our states, cities, and other local bodies.”
– He has consulted Indian states ahead of overseas outreach and is
making strong use of sister city arrangements.
Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
– For example, to help modernize his parliamentary district of
Varanasi, he used a visit to Japan to initiate a sister city agreement
with Kyoto.
– He similarly used Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Ahmedabad
to strike up a partnership with China’s manufacturing powerhouse of
Guangzhou.
– As part of his visit to Australia for the G-20 Summit, Modi proposed
a sister city agreement between Hyderabad and Brisbane and argued
that relationships between countries can prosper fully
• “only if we bring our states and cities together.”
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Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
• Besides connecting to the diaspora during foreign visits, Modi adopted
a novel approach to showcase India ’ s soft power assets to foreign
leaders during their India visits.
• He preferred to hold official talks at different cities of India, keeping
aside the usual practice of conducting talks in the capital, New Delhi.
Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
– Modi invited Chinese President, Xi Jinping, during his visit to India in September
2014, to Ahmadabad for bilateral talks and together they visited the Gandhi
Ashram, founded by Mahatma Gandhi.
– In the Ashram, Jinping paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and sat bare feet to spin
charkha (spinning wheel). As the world is interconnected and technology ensures
fast relay, these events appear to catch the imagination of not only Indians but
also of people outside India.
– Similarly, in December 2015, Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was invited to
Indian religious city of Banaras, famous for hosting religious sites of Hinduism
as well as Buddhism (Buddha had given his first sermon some 2500 years ago at
the outskirts of the city at a place called Sarnath). Modi and Abe watched the
famous Hindu religious rite of Aarati (evening prayer by priests) while sitting on a
boat on the river Ganges.
– During Modi ’ s earlier visit to Japan in August 2014, India and Japan had signed a
pact under which Banaras and Kyoto, a heritage city of Buddhist culture, would
be engaged in heritage conservation, city modernization and cooperation in the
fields of art, culture and academics
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Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
• One of the major policy planks of Modi to project rising India, its
indigenous technology and innovation, was the much publicized “
Make in India ” initiative.
• The Indian government launched the initiative in September 2014
– “ as part of a wider set of nation-building initiatives ’
– “ transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub ”
• The programme aims at steering Indian economic growth despite
certainties in global economy, for which it is interested to develop a “
strategy that inspires, empowers and enables in equal measure. ”
Cultural Diplomacy under Modi
• The programme encompasses three main elements
– First, inspire confidence in India ’ s capabilities amongst potential
partners abroad, the Indian business community and citizens at large
– Second, provide a framework for a vast amount of technical
information on 25 industry sectors
– Reach out to a vast local and global audience via social media and
constantly keep them updated about opportunities, reforms and so on.
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Modi and India
• During his visit to Hanover Trade Expo in Germany in April 2015,
Make in India initiative was significantly publicized.
• While inaugurating the Hannover Trade Fair in Germany in April
2015, Modi referred to “ Make in India ” initiative not as “ a slogan or
a brand but a new national movement ”
• PM Narendra Modi uses soft power to hardsell ‘ Make in India ’ in
Germany ” reported, “ From billboards to trams and buses, the lion
(the logo of Make in India initiative) was everywhere as 400 Indian
companies are among 6,500 exhibitors at the fair ...”
Modi and India
• Modi’s government has aggressively promoted India ’ s tradition and
modernity worldwide.
• This is one of the government’s major contributions to India’s cultural
diplomacy.
• India under Modi has not shied away from promoting India ’ s ancient
civilization characteristics even while showcasing India ’ s newly gained
advantages including human resource and fast growing economy
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New India
• In contrast to his predecessors who were not open to the idea of
displaying religious identity and culture, Modi displays his cultural roots
to promote India ’ s interests.
• Piccone argues, “ what sets Modi apart from his predecessors is his
mission to help spread the experience of a more inclusive and
democratic India not only to his fellow Indians but to the wider world.
As a devout Hindu, Modi is not shy about preaching the virtues of
what he considers not a religion but a way of life that encompasses all
societies ...”
India and the Yoga
• He used the occasions such as International Day of Yoga to promote
inclusive and pluralistic identity of India.
• For example, he celebrated the day in 2015 on the Raj Path, with
35,985 people, belonging to 84 nationalities, doing 21 yoga postures.
– The exercise earned two Guinness World Record titles for “ largest
yoga session ” and “ most nationalities in a yoga lesson”
– In 2016, he celebrated the Day in Chandigarh in Punjab, and while
emphasizing on the idea to make yoga popular throughout the world,
he announced two awards for the yoga day celebrations next year: one
for those doing good work in the field of yoga at international level
and the other at national level
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India as a Good Neighbor
• Modi appeared to be aware of the constraints against realizing India ’ s soft
power potentials.
• He realized that unless India develops good relations with its neighbours, it
will be difficult to emerge as a great power.
• The regional organization SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation), formed three decades ago to promote regional cooperation, is
almost in a tattered shape as it remains hostage to the conflicts between the
members, particularly between India and Pakistan.
• Modi sought to correct this problem, and in this direction he invited all the
SAARC leaders to his swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister.
• All the SAARC members were present at the ceremony.
• Modi ’ s meetings with SAARC leaders, and particularly with the leader of
Pakistan, were highlighted by national and international media.
India as a Good Neighbor
• The US Secretary of State, John Kerry observed, “ Prime Minister
Modi took the important first step of inviting Nawaz Sharif (Prime
Minister of Pakistan) to his inauguration ... I talked to Nawaz Sharif
after his visit there. He was very encouraged, thought it was positive
...”
• After being elected as Prime Minister, Modi ’ s first official visit was to
neighbouring Nepal. During the visit he observed, “ India and Nepal
share many similarities, they have similar culture, and they share same
religion, and it is time to further boost the relations ” .
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India as a Good Neighbor
• Speaking at Nepalese Parliament, he said,
– “ I hope my visit will open a new chapter in India-Nepal relations,
characterized by more frequent political engagement and closer
cooperation across the full spectrum of our extraordinarily broadbased
relations, which will serve as a model and catalyst for South
Asian partnership for prosperity ”
– He visited all the neighbouring countries, including Pakistan,
within the first two years of his office.
India as a Good Neighbor
• Modi also used the policy of foreign aid and soft loans to promote
India ’ s policies in developing countries.
– During his visit to Fiji in November 2014, first by an Indian prime
minister in 33 years, Modi offered two lines of credit totalling US$75
million for the sugar industry and a grant of $5 million for village,
small and medium industries.
– During the visit to Fiji and other Pacific nations, his government
announced Special Adaptation Fund to provide technical assistance
and training for capacity building to the Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,
Nauru, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Niue, Palau,
Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea
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India as a Good Neighbor
• During his visit to Mongolia in May 2015, Modi announced a $1
billion credit line for infrastructure development
• While participating in the third India-Africa Forum Summit, attended
by 41 Heads of State and Government and officials from 54 African
countries, in December 2015, Modi offered Africa a concessional
credit of $10 billion over 5 years and a grant assistance of $600
million.
India as a Good Neighbor
• Besides other development activities, the assistance also included 50,000
scholarships in India to Africans
• During his four-nation — Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya
— tour to Africa in July 2016, he quoted from Mahatma Gandhi ’ s farewell
speech in South Africa in 1914,
– “ The sub-continent had become to me a scared and dear land, next only to
my motherland ”.
• While addressing the large gathering of Indian origin people in Johannesburg,
Modi said,
– “ South Africa transformed Mohandas into Mahatma (servant-Saint). It is
here that Mahatma Gandhi conceptualized his politics, this is the birth place
of Satyagraha (love for truth, the Gandhian weapon to fight injustice) ”
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Rebranding
• As well as seeking to boost India’s international status by revamping the tools
used to communicate with the world, Modi has set about updating the country’s
messaging.
• He aspires to make India a global thought leader, a vishwa guru, or guru of the
world.
• In a recent address at Banaras Hindu University, Modi told a group of teachers
that,
– “In the present era, which can be considered an era of knowledge, our roles and
responsibilities have increased. We have to emerge as a vishwa guru, not only to give
new direction to the world, but also to protect our own heritage.”
• The idea is to highlight how India straddles ancient history and modernity. As he
argued during his visit to New York,
– “India is the world’s youngest country and its most ancient.” As such, Modi is
relying on both India’s ancient and modern cultures to revitalize its international
image.
Conclusion of India’s Public Diplomacy
• Conclusion The Transparency International put India at the rank of 76
out of 168 countries in its 2015 Corruption Perception Index
• Besides conflict with its neighbours particularly China and Pakistan,
insurgencies within have impacted India ’ s growth.
• Modi ’ s image in some sections as a Hindu nationalist leader also
affects India ’s soft power image.
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• Mao Zedong once said: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a
gun.“
• China’s current leaders, however, believe it stems just as much from
softsources of power:
– the country’s ancient culture and values, a dazzling showduring the
2008 Beijing Olympics, the country’s economic success, or even awelldesigned
Chinese dress.
• The firstelement was Xi’s promotion abroad of his newly introduced concept
of theChinese Dream, which can be defined as China’s pursuit of national
prosperity,national rejuvenation, and the happiness of the people. At the
internationallevel, the Chinese Dream is about realizing a world shaped by
Chinaand Chinese values, the fulfillment of which, said Xi in Moscow, “will
not onlybenefit the Chinese people, but also the people of all countries”.
• The conceptwas furthermore promoted as being inspiring to other countries
that seek rejuvenation,for example in Africa, where the Chinese Dream,
according to theChinese media, is “intimately tied up with the African Dream
of self-relianceand development.”
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Culture Matters
• “Culture matters,” writes prominent Chinese political scientist Qin
Yaqing.
• It “plays an important role in human life, in the way of thinking, and
therefore in policymaking.”
• It leads states to “make different decisions and take divergent actions
when pursuing similar interests and working for comparable goals.”
• Qin identifies four cultural elements that reflect Chinese mentality and
influence Chinese behavior:
– contextuality; correlativity; complementarity; and changeability.
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Assets and Liabilities for China’s Public Diplomacy
• political and cultural context in which China’s public diplomacy is
developed
Face - Element
• Face’ is important here as it is an essential aspect of cultivating
relations.
• Concerns about ‘face’ are not unique to China or Asia; they are
universal.
• In every culture, people want to claim and project ‘face’—that is, a
public self-image—for themselves, and give ‘face’ to others during
interactions.
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China’s Authoritarian System
• China is an authoritarian state with a single political party, the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP), which controls government and other key
parts of society, including the economy, media, and education.
• The CCP, as Chinese politics’ specialist William Joseph aptly puts it,
“claims to govern in the interests of all the ‘people,’ and therefore
holds a monopoly on political power that precludes any meaningful
opposition.”
China’s Authoritarian System
• The CCP, however, is not monolithic.
• China’s bureaucratic structure of authority is what Kenneth Lieberthal
and Michel Oksenberg coined ‘fragmented.’
– Different actors at different levels affect policymaking in China, and
the behavior of officials at each sector and level is shaped by different
pressures and influences.
– The military’s interests differ from those of the big state-owned
companies, and there are diverging ideas about China’s political and
economic priorities and reforms among China’s political leaders.
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Media and Social Media Censorship
• In the view of the Chinese government, the media is an important instrument
in shaping public opinion.
• It therefore seeks to use the media to shape favorable views of China and its
policies at home and abroad.
• It demands that the domestic media always support the Chinese government
and that they adhere to official government guidelines.
• The media must be ‘guided’ in reporting ‘factual news stories’ that benefit the
Party, the nation and the people.
• The media have to unite the ‘spirit’ of the Party with public opinion and
should stay close to reality, close to the masses, and close to real life
Media and Social Media Censorship
• In practice, this means that articles published outside China or in the
English-language press aimed at foreign readership inside China, such
as The China Daily or the English version of The Global Times,
are often more open and liberal in tone and content than those in
Chinese aimed at the domestic readership.
– The Chinese government’s internet censorship system employs
between 20,000 and 50,000 internet police and monitors to check
online content and to force internet providers to comply with the
government’s censorship guidelines
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Human Rights and Tibet
• China’s lack of political and civil rights is furthermore an issue that
can be considered one of the biggest liabilities for China’s public
diplomacy in the Western world and democratic countries in other
regions.
• China is widely criticized for its lack of respect for human rights at
home, for obstructing the international human rights system, and for
supporting regimes that violate the human rights of their populations.
The Lack of Cultural Freedom
• A society’s ideas, concepts, norms and cultural expressions are among the
most important sources of attraction that a country can possess. Chinese
policymakers and many scholars indeed consider Chinese culture as the most
important resource for soft power, and the Chinese government has
developed numerous initiatives to promote actively China’s culture abroad.
• s an editorial in the official newspaper The People’s Daily put it:
– Without culture to guide the way, without the great richness of a people’s
spiritual world, without bringing the spiritual strength of the whole nation
into play, a country and a people cannot possibly stand strong in the forest of
nations.
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The Lack of Cultural Freedom
• According to former Chinese President Hu Jintao
– strengthening China’s cultural soft power could furthermore reverse
“the international cultural and public opinion structure of ‘strong
West and weak us.’ ”
• China’s cultural diplomacy, however, is hampered by the fact that there
is no freedom of cultural expression in China.
• The Chinese government understands culture as ‘socialist culture,’
and art is supposed to serve the official policy goals and improve the
moral quality of the people.
The Lack of Cultural Freedom
• This idea that art serves politics is not
– “entirely the invention of the Chinese Communist Party,” however.
– It is, as Chinese media specialist Ying Zhu writes, also: [. . .] rooted in a
longer tradition of Chinese aesthetics that defines art (and
entertainment).
– According to Chinese aesthetics, art is meant to represent the ‘good
and the beautiful.’ This perspective can be traced to a moral and
ethical fabric grounded in Confucianism
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China’s Economic Rise
• The most important domestic factor that has shaped and still shapes
China’s foreign policy and diplomacy is the country’s economic rise.
• China’s transition from a centrally planned economy to a (socialist)
market economy, its integration into the world economy, and the
resulting spectacular growth, have made China an economic
powerhouse.
• In 2010, China overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy
and, according to the latest projections, China is expected to overtake
the United States as the largest economy in absolute figures around
2030.
The China Model
• China’s political—economic model, which shows that a country can
have economic development without far-reaching political reform, is
an example for many developing countries, but a big concern for
Western and democratic countries.
• Domestically, the model is a hybrid of socialism with Chinese
(authoritarian) characteristics and capitalism; internationally, it is based
on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and in particular
the principles of state sovereignty, non-interference in domestic affairs
and ‘no-politicalstrings-attached’ foreign aid and trade
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China’s Environmental Challenges
• Closely linked to China’s fast growth are its rising need for energy, the
serious environmental degradation that is taking place, public health
issues and the safety of China’s food exports.
• The environmental issue, in particular, poses both challenges and
opportunities for China’s public diplomacy.
• China’s air and water pollution often make international headlines,
illustrated by grim pictures of dense smog or pitch black river water.
• In January 2013, for example, reports on Beijing’s ‘crazy bad’ air
pollution, soon dubbed ‘airpocalypse’ in the foreign press, reached
audiences all over the world.
China’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
• The development of China’s public diplomacy strategies cannot be
detached from the rapid development of China’s foreign policy and
diplomacy as a whole during the last decade, which, in its turn, cannot
be detached from the enormous economic and political changes that
have taken place, and are still taking place, in China.
• China’s political and economic transitions have led to its gradual
integration into the international system.
• This development and China’s global rise, in particular after the global
economic crisis erupted in 2008, have forced Chinese leaders to
redefine
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China’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
• While China has not abandoned its traditional approach of “keeping
a low profile and never taking the lead” (taoguang yanghui) in
international affairs, it has become more active (yousuo zuowei [get some
things done]) and confident in its foreign policy and diplomacy.
• China’s leadership struggles to find the right balance between these
two approaches, but is also engaged in other Chinese balancing acts: in
its relations with major powers, the Asian region and developing
countries; between domestic interests and the international call for
responsible behavior; and between domestic nationalist emotions and
further integration into the global systém.
China’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
• An important feature of the development of China’s diplomacy is the
expansion of China’s diplomatic system.
• China’s foreign service has grown dramatically and, in addition, new
groups of state and non-state actors have entered the diplomatic arena
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China’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
• During the past three decades, China’s diplomatic activities have
rapidly expanded and become more sophisticated.
• China has developed a multidimensional and long-term diplomatic
strategy that involves major-power diplomacy, good-neighbor
diplomacy, an increasingly active multilateral diplomacy, and the
promotion of good bilateral ties with countries all around the globe.
• This strategy is aimed at serving the Chinese central government’s
fundamental nd enduring goals: to “uphold state sovereignty and
territorial integrity and maintain national security and
development interests.”
Chinese Tourists
• In recent years, China’s international tourism has sometimes been
considered a liability for the country’s public diplomacy.
• While foreigners often praise Chinese people for their patience,
hospitality and humor at home, their behavior as tourists abroad is less
appreciated.
• As the number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad is rapidly rising,
the issue is drawing more and more attention.
• In 2012, China was the largest contributor to international tourism,
with 83 million Chinese traveling abroad.
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Chinese Tourists
• Newspaper stories abound of incidents around the globe involving
Chinese tourists and make it to the ‘top ten most-read articles.’
• Incidents include a Chinese teenager carving graffiti on a 3,500-yearold
temple in Luxor, Egypt; a French fashion designer’s announcement
that he would bar Chinese tourists from his chic new hotel in Paris;
and a South Korean university being invaded by Chinese tourists.
“Chinese goods”
• Low quality
• Questionable health issues of materials
• Intellectual property
• Human rights
• Child Labour
• Poor quality of finished goods
• “Oh China” effect
– Made in China
– Made by China
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Copyrights
• Economy first, law later
• In 1980, the PRC became a member of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO).
• Intellectual property rights have been acknowledged and protected in
the People's Republic of China since the 1980s
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Intelectual Property
• President Xi Jinping highlighted the need to speed up protections in a speech
as far back as 2017, calling for stricter enforcement and for infringers to pay a
“heavy price.”
• In December, China announced its most serious measures since the trade war
erupted, including punishments that could restrict local companies’ access to
borrowing and state-funding support over IP theft.
• The government said in January it would accelerate the passage of a new
foreign-investment law that includes administrative measures to protect the IP
of foreign companies and ease pressure on them to transfer technology.
EUROPOL
• The majority of counterfeit goods come from China: the development
of the Silk Road and the corresponding increasing use of rail and
maritime transport between China and the EU support also new
threats in the IPR crime landscape.
• Counterfeit goods are increasingly distributed via online marketplaces.
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Image of China
• How to improve the Image of China ????
Case of Huawei
• Founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei
– da former People's Liberation Army engineer.
• Huawei overtook Ericsson in 2012 as the largest telecommunicationsequipment
manufacturer in the world
• Overtook Apple in 2018 as the second-largest manufacturer of
smartphones in the world, behind Samsung Electronics.
• Huawei is widely thought to be the leading 5G provider in the world.
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Case of Huawei
• 2009 Huawei delivered one of the world's first LTE/EPC commercial
networks for TeliaSonera in Oslo, Norway
• In September 2013, Huawei in Canada collaborated with the local
carrier SaskTel to build its HSPA+ and LTE networks.
• In October 2013, Huawei was selected by to modernise the nationwide
GSM/UMTS/LTE network in Denmark
• In December 2018, Huawei's vice-chairperson and CFO Meng
Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on 1 December 2018, at the request
of the United States, which accuses her of violating US sanctions
against Iran.
Case of Huawei
• In 2001, it was alleged that Huawei Technologies India had developed
telecommunications equipment for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and
newspapers reported that the Indian government had launched a probe into
the firm's operations
• On 15 December 2001, the Indian authorities announced that they had not
found any evidence that Huawei India had any connection to the Taliban,
although the U.S. remains suspicious
• In the United Kingdom, it raised concerns about security over Huawei's
equipment was mentioned as an alleged potential threat in a 2009 government
briefing by Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
• In December 2010, Huawei opened a Cyber Security Evaluation Centre to
test its hardware and software to ensure they can withstand growing cyber
security threats.
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Case of Huawei
• In the U.S., some members of Congress raised questions about the
company's proposed merger with communications company 3Com in
2008, and its bid for a Sprint contract in 2010.
• In a 2011 Huawei stated that "unfounded and unproven" and called on
the U.S. government to investigate any aspect of its business.
• In October 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that Huawei had
become Iran's leading provider of telecommunications equipment,
including monitoring technologies that could be used for surveillance
Case of Huawei
• On 19 July 2013, Michael Hayden, former head of U.S. National
Security Agency and director of Motorola Solutions, claimed that
he has seen hard evidence of backdoors in Huawei's networking
equipment and that the company engaged in espionage
– Huawei and Motorola Solutions had previously been engaged in
intellectual property disputes for a number of years.
– Huawei's global cybersecurity officer, John Suffolk, described the
comments made by Hayden as "tired, unsubstantiated, defamatory
remarks" and challenged him and other critics to present any
evidence publicly
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Case of Huawei
• On 19 July 2013, Michael Hayden, former head of U.S. National
Security Agency and director of Motorola Solutions, claimed that
he has seen hard evidence of backdoors in Huawei's networking
equipment and that the company engaged in espionage
– Huawei and Motorola Solutions had previously been engaged in
intellectual property disputes for a number of years.
– Huawei's global cybersecurity officer, John Suffolk, described the
comments made by Hayden as "tired, unsubstantiated, defamatory
remarks" and challenged him and other critics to present any
evidence publicly
Case of Huawei
• In 2015, German cybersecurity company G Data reported that it had
found that malware was found pre-installed on smartphones from
Chinese companies including Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Huawei.
– Huawei replied that the security breaches must have taken place
further down the supply chain, outside the manufacturing process.
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The Chinese National Intelligence
Law
• Entered into force in June 2017 and was updated in April 2018
• the National Intelligence Law gives authorities sweeping powers to
monitor and investigate foreign and domestic individuals and
institutions.
• It allows Chinese intelligence agencies to search premises, seize
property, and mobilize individuals or organizations to carry out
espionage. It also gives intelligence agencies legal ground to carry out
their work both in and outside China. Those violating the law will be
subject to detention of up to 15 days, and can be charged with a crime.
The Chinese National Intelligence
Law
• Entered into force in June 2017 and was updated in April 2018
• the National Intelligence Law gives authorities sweeping powers to
monitor and investigate foreign and domestic individuals and
institutions.
• It allows Chinese intelligence agencies to search premises, seize
property, and mobilize individuals or organizations to carry out
espionage. It also gives intelligence agencies legal ground to carry out
their work both in and outside China. Those violating the law will be
subject to detention of up to 15 days, and can be charged with a crime.
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• Article 11: National intelligence work institutions shall lawfully collect and process relevant
intelligences on foreign bodies, organizations and individuals engaged in, or inciting or
assisting others to engage in, or domestic bodies, organizations and individuals who collude
with foreign bodies, organizations or individuals to engage in harm to the national security
and interests of the People’s Republic of China, in order to provide intelligence as a
reference and basis and reference for preventing, curbing and punishing the above acts.
• Article 12: National intelligence work institutions may, according to relevant state
regulations, establish cooperative relationships with relevant individuals and organizations,
and commission them to carry out related work.
• Article 14: National intelligence work institutions, when carrying out intelligence work
according to laws, may ask relevant institutions, organizations and citizens to provide
necessary support, assistance and cooperation.
• Article 11:
– National intelligence work institutions shall lawfully collect and
process relevant intelligences on foreign bodies, organizations and
individuals engaged in, or inciting or assisting others to engage in, or
domestic bodies, organizations and individuals who collude with
foreign bodies, organizations or individuals to engage in harm to the
national security and interests of the People’s Republic of China, in
order to provide intelligence as a reference and basis and reference for
preventing, curbing and punishing the above acts.
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• Article 12:
– National intelligence work institutions may, according to relevant state
regulations, establish cooperative relationships with relevant
individuals and organizations, and commission them to carry out
related work.
• Article 14:
– National intelligence work institutions, when carrying out intelligence
work according to laws, may ask relevant institutions, organizations
and citizens to provide necessary support, assistance and cooperation.
• China also lacks applicable laws for privacy and personal data
protections. It is unclear how much legal oversight Chinese intelligence
agencies are subject to.
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Oversight of Intelligence
• Government = political party
Intelligence Services – In Comparison
• USA - Patriot Act
– In October 2001, that significantly expanded the search and surveillance
powers of federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.
– authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission
given to law enforcement to search a home or business without the
owner's or the occupant's consent or knowledge;
– allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, e-mail,
and financial records without a court order;
– Expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including
library and financial records.
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Intelligence Services – In Comparison
• USA - Patriot Act
– In October 2001, that significantly expanded the search and surveillance
powers of federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.
– authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission
given to law enforcement to search a home or business without the
owner's or the occupant's consent or knowledge;
– allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, e-mail,
and financial records without a court order;
– Expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including
library and financial records.
PRISM
• Program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA)
collects Internet communications from various US Internet companies
• PRISM was enabled under President Bush by the Protect America Act of
2007 and by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which immunizes private
companies from legal action when they cooperate with U.S. government
agencies in intelligence collection.
• Leaked information by Snowden
– The documents identified several technology companies as participants in the
PRISM program, including Microsoft in 2007, Yahoo! in 2008, Google in
2009, Facebook in 2009, Paltalk in 2009, YouTube in 2010, AOL in 2011,
Skype in 2011 and Apple in 2012.
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Taiwan Informal Diplomacy
• In 1996, the Republic of China on Taiwan enjoyed formal diplomatic
relations with 32 other states.
• By April 1998, the number had fallen to 28
• In 2019 – 17 countries recognizes ROC
Recognition of Taiwan
Africa – 1 Eswatini
Europe – 1 Holy See
Oceania – 6 Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau
Solomon Islands, Tuvalu
Caribbean – 4 Haiti, Saint Kitts and Navis, Saint Lucia,
Saint Vincent and the Genadines
Central America – 4 Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
South America – 1 Paraguay
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Taiwan Informal Diplomacy
• The largest and most important was South Africa which had always
maintained consular relations with Taipei, and upgraded its
representation to ambassadorial level in 1976.
• There was never any reason to suspect that the situation might change.
President Nelson Mandela had said on several occasions that his
government would not switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing at the
expense of Taiwan
Taiwan Informal Diplomacy
• 31 December 1997, Pretoria recognized the Communist government
of the People’s Republic of China and severed all formal links with
Taiwan.
• o mark the occasion Beijing and Pretoria issued a joint communiqué,
declaring that:
– ‘The government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal
government representing the whole of China’, and stated that South
Africa ‘recognizes China’s position that Taiwan is an inalienable part
of China’
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Taiwan Informal Diplomacy
• The development of informal diplomatic relations with South Africa is
particularly illuminating.
• In 1996, the ROC was South Africa’s sixth largest trading partner,
while South Africa was the ROC’s biggest trading partner in Africa.
• South Africa was the main market for consumer goods that were
produced in Taiwan, while Taiwan bought coal and uranium from
South Africa.
• Depending on which source one consults, Taiwan interests owned
anything between 120 and over 285 factories in South Africa
Taiwan Informal Diplomacy
• There are also reports of cooperation in military intelligence and
nuclear research.
• As the President of the ROC, Lee Tenghui, said upon his return from
a visit to Singapore in July 1988:
– ‘When a country wishes to have diplomatic relations with Peking, it
does not necessarily mean that the ROC has to sever its contact with
that country. Peking’s diplomatic gains, in other words, need not be
interpreted as the ROC’s total loss as it has been.
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Pragmatic Diplomacy
• Following Pretoria’s announcement that it would sever relations at the
end of 1997, Taipei decided to cancel 36 mostly bilateral economic
agreements with South Africa.
• This was a most revealing development; among the projects
abandoned was investment in a petrochemical plant by a Taiwanese
consortium of private and public companies.
– Otherwise straightforward commercial deal was cancelled by a political
decision taken in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
– Evidence suggests that this may be a characteristic of the structure of
informal diplomacy
Pragmatic Diplomacy
• The opening of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (formerly
the Far Eastern Trading Company, which, commented Senator William
O’Chee, ‘sounds like a couple of guys selling noodles’) in
Canberra, Australia, in 1991 was tempered by caution:
– the Australian Foreign Minister announced that this ‘did not imply any
departure from Australia’s strict adherence to the one China policy’
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Pragmatic Diplomacy
• By 1996, the ROC had three representative offices in Toronto,
Vancouver and Ottawa, all of which are called the Taipei Economic
and Cultural Office.
• Meanwhile, in 1995, a Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre was
opened in New Delhi, paving the way for a reciprocal move by the
Indian government (opening the India-Taipei Association) in the ROC.
• Understandably, the ROC celebrated a 1992 fisheries pact with Russia,
but its significance was downplayed by the Russians themselves.
– One official described it merely as ‘a low-scale commercial deal’
Informal Diplomacy
• The ROC no longer wishes to force other governments to choose
between the ROC and PRC. Pragmatism allows previously hesitant
governments to inch closer to Taipei while continuing formal relations
with Beijing.22 As Byron S. J. Weng wrote in 1984, Taiwan ‘is a unique
international entity to which substantive, if less than full diplomatic
recognition is given in a semi-formal manner’
• Linjun Wu, informal relations help Taiwan ‘at a minimum, to uphold
the political status quo, to maintain economic prosperity and to avoid
being further politically isolated’
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How does informal diplomacy work?
• Taiwan’s contacts with other states have been regular and close, and these
have been facilitated by the large number of representative offices that are
found in those countries that do not recognize the ROC
• Unlike the so-called ‘diplomatic fronts’, which are representative
organizations having genuine ‘cover’ functions (for example trade),
representative offices are openly diplomatic in purpose and method.
• They have a larger staff and more resources to devote to diplomacy than the
diplomatic fronts.
• These offices are all forced by the international political climate to use the
word ‘Taipei’ in their title; ‘Taiwan’ suggests acceptance of a two-China
policy, whereas ‘Republic of China’ is offensive to Beijing
Informal Diplomacy
• Through this diplomacy, the ROC influences the policy choices of other
states, cooperating and resolving its differences with them.
• In all but name and formal structure, Taiwan’s informal diplomacy is little
different from the kind of diplomacy pursued by so-called ‘legitimate’ and
recognized international political actors.
• Indeed the high number of formal agreements reached between Taipei and
Washington during the Clinton administration, covering everything from
trade to immigration, arms sales to education, postage and technical
cooperation, and including a series of unofficial visits of high-ranking
personnel between the two countries (including reciprocal visits by leaders of
both governments), suggest that formal nonrecognition is simply a hindrance
rather than an obstacle to effective diplomatic relations
• One member of Clinton’s administration has observed that this unofficial
relationship ‘is closer and more productive than the official diplomatic ties we
have with many countries’
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Informal Diplomacy
• The growing number of high-level reciprocal visits between the ROC
and New Zealand were defined as ‘unofficial’ but this did not prevent
speculation that the delegations had discussed matters of great
importance to both sides
• G. R. Berridge has observed that non-recognition can make even
informal diplomacy difficult, especially if the nation, state or
government concerned is not a member of the United Nations.
Informal Diplomacy
• It is then unable to take full advantage of informal meetings which take place,
for example in the corridors of the UN or at working funerals.
• The only heads of state or government to attend Chiang Kai-shek’s memorial
service in 1975 were Premier Kim Jong Pil of South Korea, and the Prime
Minister of the Central African Republic, Elizabeth Domitien.
• The American delegation was led by Vice President Rockefeller, though the
first choice was Earl Butz, the US Secretary of State for Agriculture.
• His absence was a slight for the ROC and a reflection of deteriorating
relations between the two governments.
• Similarly, the only foreign leaders to attend Chiang Ching-kuo’s funeral in
1988 were Premier Kim Chung Yul of South Korea, and President Clarence
Segnoret of the Dominican Republic.
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The Trajectory Of Japan’s Public
Diplomacy In Three Phases
• Phase I: 1945-1950s
• Right after the World War II, Japan faced the challenge of transforming its image
as a militaristic aggressor into that of a democratic, peace-loving nation. Japan’s
public diplomacy avoided material likely to arouse associations with the way of
the samurai and with other elements of Japan’s feudal past. Instead, it highlighted
benign facets of Japanese culture, such as the tea ceremony and ikebana flower
arranging. Ikebana has remained to this day an emphasis in Japan’s diplomatic PR,
as seen in photographic calendars published and distributed annually. The
government provided comparatively little support for overseas Japanese-language
education until recent years. That was in deference to bad memories of imperial
Japan’s imposition of its language on its colonies. Also, Japan in the early postwar
years lacked much latitude for the exercise of public diplomacy. Two obvious
constraints in the era, which coincided with the Allied occupation, were Japan’s
shaky political foundation and a general shortage of resources.
• Phase II: 1960s-80s
• The U.S.-Japan trade imbalance had become a contentious issue by the early 1960s, and the U.S.
government had clamped limits on imports of Japanese textiles. U.S.-Japanese relations would suffer
another blow in 1971 in the form of a series of “Nixon shocks.” Then- president Richard Nixon,
without consulting his foreign counterparts, ended the convertibility between the dollar and gold and,
also without prior consultation with the United States’ allies, announced plans to visit China. In 1972,
Japan’s parliament passed the bill that provided for establishing the Japan Foundation in the name of
promoting mutual understanding. It was also during this period that Japan’s economic inroads in
Southeast Asia had exacerbated latent ill will. People had come to regard Japanese as “economic
animals.” A popular epithet was “banana:” yellow (Asian) on the outside but white (Western) on the
inside. The animosity had boiled over into a vitriolic boycott of Japanese goods in Thailand in 1972.
Southeast Asia also became a focus of Japanese public diplomacy in the late 1970s on par with the
United States. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs even published a condensed version in English of Chie
Nakane’s “Tateshakai no Ningenkankei” (human relations in vertical society) and distributed it in the
United States, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Japan’s public diplomacy became more assertive but thus
remained reactive in its nature
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• Phase III: 1990s-present
• Calls arose in the United States and Europe in the 1980s for Japan to shoulder more responsibility as a member of the global
community. Pressure mounted for Japan to provide support for multilateral peacekeeping operations and similar undertakings
and to expand its government development assistance and other economic assistance for developing nations. Japan’s burgeoning
trade surplus with the United States had become an especially vexing problem. The nations’ mutual-security arrangements,
meanwhile, had long been a nagging source of mutual discontent. And that discontent had worsened amid U.S. dissatisfaction
with Japan’s contribution to the United Nations–authorized military action in the Gulf War. In 1991, the Japanese government
invested 50 billion in establishing the Center for Global Partnership (CGP) inside the Japan Foundation. Its founding mandate
was to promote U.S.- Japanese cooperation in policy initiatives aimed at addressing global issues of mutual concern; for example,
supporting democratization in developing nations, addressing threats to the environment, and combating contagious diseases.
Unsurprisingly, some in the United States viewed the Center warily as a vehicle for Japanese lobbying. The Japanese defused that
cynicism, however, by placing the Center under the supervision of a council that comprised American and Japanese members
and by investing the Center with a full and convincing measure of autonomy inside the Japan Foundation. The establishment of
CGP was a turning point in the history of Japanese public diplomacy. Establishing the Center was, to be sure, a reactive, rather
than proactive, measure. Japan was, as always, scrambling to quell foreign criticism and to dampen bilateral frictions. But the
Center attained an importance that transcended its initial purpose of dealing with issues that had arisen in the U.S.-Japan
relationship. Its approach was a refreshing departure from Japan’s all-too-familiar reliance on hackneyed pleas for understanding
of the nation’s “special circumstances.” The Center marked a new departure in tackling global issues of multinational concern
through a genuinely bilateral and sometimes multilateral approach
• RECENT FOCUSES
• Cool Japan
• Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry embarked on a national branding
campaign in 2011 to promote Japanese “content industries” internationally under the
moniker “Cool Japan.” That presumably reflects a sense of crisis about the long-term
decline in Japanese manufacturing and a determination to offset the economic impact of
that decline by promoting creative, post-manufacturing industries. But it also reflects
informed perceptions of a genuine basis—a cultural commonality among East Asia,
North America, and other regions—for chic national branding. What’s cool about “Cool
Japan,” in other words, rests on a foundation of regionally and even globally shared culture.
From a public diplomacy perspective, “Cool Japan” is valuable as a “gateway” to Japan,
especially for the young generations of foreign countries. Some of them might choose to
study Japanese language and culture, visit Japan, or even pursue Japan-related careers. They
tend to have a more nuanced and contextual understanding of Japan, instead of being
susceptible to soundbites, even at the time when the bilateral relations get sour
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• Human Security and Life Infrastructure
• In recent years, Japan’s public diplomacy has addressed the
international public interest in the spirit of “human security.” And
Japan’s increasingly proactive stance in public diplomacy will benefit
from the nation’s history of creative and effective responses to
adverse circumstances and events. That history and its legacy are just
as valuable as pop culture and content industries in asserting an
identity as
• “Cool Japan:” innovation in energy conservation and material recycling as a
nation blessed with little in the way of energy resources and other natural
resources; an extensive, systematic commitment to preserving environmental
quality and maintaining healthful public sanitation as a nation that has
experienced serious pollution; miraculous reconstruction efforts and a deeprooted
commitment to peace as a nation that has suffered calamitous natural
disasters and devastating war. All of these and other challenges present a
confluence of national interests and international interests. Japan’s growing
emphasis in public diplomacy on shared experience is part of a broader shift
to proactive approaches in that realm.
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• Liberal International Order Japan’s diplomacy priority, including public
diplomacy, is to preserve, protect and defend the “liberal international
order” based on democracy, the rule of law, human rights, free trade,
et al. This is especially so when anti-liberal phenomena such as the
spread of terrorism, the rise of authoritarian states, the unilateral
change of status quo by force, and the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, et al. have become conspicuous.
• Bilateral Public Diplomacy One of the highlights of the bilateral
public diplomacy events in recent years was President Barack
Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to
Pearl Harbor. Although the case of France-Germany relations is
often referred to as a role model of post-war reconciliation, the case
of the United States and Japan is no less dramatic and historic,
particularly when cultural differences and geographic distance are
taken into account. To date, the bilateral relation remains stable and
strong, at least far better than many in Japan
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• had feared at the inauguration of President Donald Trump. I would say,
facing the common threat of nuclear North Korea, the alliance has never
been more resilient. Bear in mind here that Japan retains high priority in U.S.
public diplomacy. Interesting evidence of that priority is the number of
American Centers in Japan. American Centers are public affairs outlets run
by the U.S. State Department in nations worldwide. Japan is home to fully
five Centers, in Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. That is an
unusually large number for an industrialized nation, because the United
States, like other Western nations, is shifting its public affairs resources to
developing nations in the Middle East, Africa, and other parts of Asia.
• Japan and the United States nonetheless have different concerns: From the U.S.
side Apprehension about Japan’s relationship with South Korea, especially over
the “comfort women” issue, continues. So many emotions are embedded in this
issue at grass-root levels, but we need at least a “political” solution, at the intergovernmental
level, to keep the bilateral relations viable before the threat of
North Korea. The 2015 Accord was significant in this respect. While the real
intention of President Moon Jae-in’s recent statement on the Accord (January
10, 2018) remains to be clarified, Japan holds that Accord should be duly fulfilled
by both sides. Otherwise, any accord gets meaningless in the future, and the
Japanese public will lose confidence in South Korea, which makes it more
difficult for good-minded Japanese politicians and diplomats to take positive
move towards South Korea. According to a most recent Yomiuri poll (January
10-12, 2018), 86 percent of Japanese respondents refused to take any new
measurements to the Accord.
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• There is also a persistent notion of Prime Minister Abe as being a nationalist. If the term “nationalist”
implies “racist” (as in Europe), he is clearly not. I would consider him to be more a realist than an
ideologue, and more a globalist than an isolationist. He has decided to cut a deal with South Korea
over the comfort women issue in 2015 and to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Pyeongchang
Winter Olympics in 2018 despite vehement oppositions from one of his key constituencies who are
very conservative and (proudly) nationalistic. Another concern is the perception of Japan as still
engaging in an unfair, “non-reciprocal” trade with the United States. This rhetoric was repeated by
President Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016, but he still clings to it if not frequently. In
fact, he could continue to embrace it towards the mid-term elections in autumn 2018 to shore up
supports from his core constituencies. To the Japan side, Trump’s claim is outdated and mostly
baseless, yet there is every reason to suspect that Japan’s past record on direct investment in the United
States has been underestimated or misunderstood for the past few years. From the Japanese side The
Trump administration’s policy towards North Korea is the biggest concern while acknowledging the
merits of “strategic ambiguity.” If the United States ever cuts a surprise deal with North Korea
without prior consultation with Japan, it would make a major blow to the alliance management. The
U.S.- DPRK summit meeting, alleged to take place by May 2018, needs close scrutiny in this regard and
could be a game changer in the U.S.-Japan relations. The Armitage-Nye Report in 2012 posed, “Does
Japan desire to continue to be a tier-one nation, or is she content to drift into tier-two
• status?” 3 While Prime Minister Abe set to become Japan’s longest
serving leader in 2018, many experts in Japan’s diplomatic circle are
apprehensive if President Trump’s “America First” doctrine is
synonymous with “America Alone,” and ultimately, if the United
States is building a wall between the liberal international order.
Certainly, American retrenchment is not welcome, as it creates a
serious vacuum of power in world politics including East Asia. In
addition to this anxiety is a perception that the U.S. domestic politics
is too divided to lead the world effectively, even if there is a bipartisan
support for the U.S.-Japan relations in particular.
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Japese Soft Power
• Japan still has an image problem in East Asia today-sometimes as a
country lacking in remorse for its past militarism and other times as a
predatory and protectionist “economic animal”.
• On the one hand, East Asians especially Chinese and Koreans view
negatively Japanese war atrocities, Prime Minister’s visits to Yasukuni
Shrine
• On the other, East Asian consumers have embraced things Japanese
such as sushi, karaoke, rock garden, zen-inspired architecture, J-pop
(popular music), J-fashion, electronic gizmos and games (Sony
PlayStation 3 and Nintendo), television dramas, manga (comics) and
anime (cartoons).
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• Japan is burnishing its international image through the popular medium of
manga and anime. These cultural products appear to have the best of both
worlds: distinctively Japanese in style and yet have universal appeal among the
young.1 Tokyo’s Diplomatic Bluebook 2006 noted: “Japanese culture is
currently attracting attention around the world as ‘Cool Japan’. In order to
increase interest in Japan and further heighten the image of Japan, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is working with the private sector through
overseas diplomatic establishments and the Japan Foundation to promote
cultural exchanges while taking into consideration the characteristics of each
foreign country”.
• The Japanese State: Embracing Pop Culture In April 2006, Foreign
Minister Aso Taro proposed that manga and anime could be the way
to China’s heart. Addressing students at the University of Digital
Content in Tokyo’s Akihabara district (the Mecca of Japan’s electronic
gadgetries), Aso noted: “If you take a peek in any of the shops in
China catering to the young otaku (nerdy)- type manga and anime fans,
you will find the shops’ walls lined with any and every sort of Japanese
anime figurine you can imagine. ....We have a grasp on the hearts of
the young people in many countries, not the least of which being
China”.
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• Aso continued: “What is the image that pops into someone’s mind when they hear the name ‘Japan’? Is it a bright and positive
image? Warm? Cool? The more these kinds of positive images pop up in a person’s mind, the easier it becomes for Japan to get its
views across over the long term. In other words, Japanese diplomacy is able to keep edging forward, bit by bit, and bring about
better and better outcomes as a result”.4 In November 2006, the Council on the Movement of People across Borders, an advisory
council to Foreign Minister Aso, proposed that Japan should tap on the rising popularity of manga and anime especially among
the young abroad.5 Headed by Cho Fujio, the chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, the Council suggested the awarding of a
“Japan Manga Grand Prize” to target foreign artists, and also appoint cultural ambassadors of anime to promote Japanese pop
culture overseas.6 Subsequently, Aso, in his policy speech to the Diet (parliament) in January 2007, adopted Japanese pop culture
as a diplomatic tool. He said: “What is important is to be able to induce other countries to listen to Japan. If the use of pop
culture or various sub-cultures can be useful in this process, we certainly should make the most of them”.7 Ironically, being
“cool”, “fun” and “hip” have now become serious business for the Japanese state. The appeal of Japanese cultural products in
Asia and beyond is not a recent phenomenon. Long before the present wave of Doraemon (the robot cat), Hello Kitty (the cute
and ubiquitous cat) and Pokemon (pocket monster) captured the hearts and minds of many kids of this generation, Astro Boy,
Ultraman and Godzilla had already done so in the previous generation.8 The creativity and non-conformity of Japanese artists and
market forces have given rise to the success of these cultural products; the catalyst was not the Japanese state. However, the
Japanese state today is trying to bandwagon on these products and harness them for its “soft power” even though that was not the
original intent of the producers of manga and anime.
• Motivations for Japanese “Soft Power” It is perhaps no coincidence that Japan’s new emphasis on its
cultural products as a vehicle for its “soft power” is also made against the backdrop of a rising China
and the establishment of its Confucian Institutes globally. It appears that the two great East Asian
powers are locked in a rivalry for the number one spot in the region and the mutual pursuit of “soft
power” is merely an extension of politics by other means.13 Yoshizaki Tatsuhiko proposed that Japan
should market the Japanese brand and enhance its international image while facing China’s challenge. He
noted: “The challenge thrown down by China, however, has made Japanese diplomacy realize the
necessity of making appeals for what it has to offer today. In the post-Cold War world, the opportunity
to deploy real military or economic power has decreased, and the roles played by instruments of soft
power such as culture and image have grown larger. Many of the confrontations in this era will take
place through the interchange of words and ideas. It will be an era when the battles among countries are
virtual ones. ... It is necessary to employ as many different routes as possible to create a broad base of
Japan fans”.14 However, the China factor in Tokyo’s quest for “soft power” should not be exaggerated.
With or without China as a consideration, Japan, like other big powers, has been pursuing cultural
diplomacy long before Nye popularized the term “soft power” and the hype over China’s rise. What is
new is the latest incarnation of Japanese cultural diplomacy: the use of manga and anime as novel
instruments of global outreach and appeal.
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• As early as 1923, Tokyo adopted cultural diplomacy when the Diet created a Special Account, based largely on the country’s share of the Boxer indemnity to
fund cultural activities related to China.15 In the same year, the Diet passed further legislation to establish the China Cultural Affairs Bureau within the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, Japan’s cultural diplomacy toward China was unraveled in the 1930s after its occupation of Manchuria and the Marco
Polo Bridge Incident which triggered war between the two Asian countries. Following its Second World War defeat, Tokyo concentrated on economic
reconstruction and reentry into the international community by addressing issues of reparations and normalizing diplomatic ties. After settling some of these
legacy issues, and becoming an economic superpower by the early 1970s, Tokyo was able to channel more resources and attention to cultural diplomacy
such as establishing the Japan Foundation for global outreach. From the 1970s, Tokyo has placed emphasis on cultural diplomacy toward the US and
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) - the former because the USJapan Alliance is the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy and the latter
because of markets and energy security - most Japanese oil tankers go through Southeast Asian waters and anti-Japanese sentiments have to be addressed in
the region. Shocked by violent anti-Japanese riots in Bangkok and Jakarta against then Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei’s 1974 visit to the region, Tokyo
became more conscious of maintaining a good international image. Subsequently, Japan codified the Fukuda Doctrine with the pledge to foster “heart to
heart relations” with Southeast Asia and also maintained Japan Foundation offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila to pursue cultural
diplomacy. Post-war Japan cannot exercise hard military power to coerce other states. Shackled by constitutional restrictions (the no-war clause of Article 9)
and mass pacifism after the nation’s catastrophic defeat in war, Tokyo has to adopt a soft approach like foreign aid and cultural diplomacy in its foreign
relations. In this regard, Japan today is different from other great powers which wield both “hard” and “soft” power - it lacks the will and capability to
exercise “hard power”.16 Cartoons also helped to make the Self Defense Force (SDF) in US-occupied Iraq appear non-threatening and friendly to the
locals. Japan’s 600 non-combat troops in Iraq painted a popular soccer cartoon (Captain Tsubasa in Japanese and Captain Majed in Arab countries) on their
water trucks.17 Apparently, softening its military’s image in Iraq via cute cartoons mitigates potential backlash from the public in the Arab world against
Japan. A Japanese diplomat who promoted Captain Tsubasa in Iraq noted: “Captain Tsubasa is famous throughout Iraq and the Middle East. The Iraqi
people didn’t know he was Japanese - they thought Tsubasa was Saudi Arabian. But I was sure that Tsubasa would cheer up Iraqi kids when they see his
logo in the streets ... Tsubasa became the symbol of our goodwill”.18 Conceivably, the new emphasis on cultural products may also mask the nationalistic
and rightwing agenda of the Abe Administration. Prime Minister Abe has upgraded the Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense and hopes to pass
legislation that will permit a national referendum to revise the Constitution and transform the country into a “normal state” which engages in collective
security. If this were to come to pass, Japan will no longer be constitutionally constrained to exercise only “soft power”. Tokyo’s new emphasis on cultural
diplomacy is agreeable to most Japanese across the ideological spectrum: to the left, a non-militaristic approach to international
• Instruments of Japanese “Soft Power” Long before manga and anime were co-opted by the Japanese state to promote its public diplomacy, it has relied on
the Japan Foundation, The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer program and Official Developmental
Assistance. Encouraging foreign students to study in Japan is another approach to invest in a younger generation and hope that they, as beneficiaries of the
Japanese educational system, will return home as cultural ambassadors and build friendship bridges between their countries and Japan. Established in 1972,
the Japan Foundation is a key institution to promote Japanese language education overseas and also art, cultural and intellectual exchanges between the
nation and the world.22 This foundation has a budget of US$146.5 million in fiscal year 2005-6. With 19 overseas offices in 18 countries, the Japan
Foundation is represented in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Europe, Middles East and Africa. Hitherto, the Japan Foundation has often promoted traditional
art forms like the austere Noh theater, Ikebana (stylized flower arrangement), ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) and the Zen-inspired tea ceremony - exquisite,
refined and quaint but of limited mass appeal. However, the Foundation is likely to move in tandem with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote pop
culture like manga and anime for greater international outreach. In May 2007, Tokyo established the International Manga Award and the First International
Manga Award Executive to honor manga artists who contribute to the promotion of manga abroad. The Committee comprises the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, the President of the Japan Foundation, and the members of the special committee for pop culture of the Council on the Movement of People
Across Borders.23 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also roped in the Japan Cartoonists Association to send renowned manga artists to the Selection
Committee of this award. The International Manga Award attracted 146 entries from 26 countries and regions globally. Interestingly, the largest number of
entries came from the Chinese speaking world - 24 from China (including Hong Kong) and 11 from Taiwan. Ethnic Chinese also captured the top prize in
June 2007: Lee Chi Ching (best work) from Hong Kong; Kai (runner up) also from Hong Kong and Benny Wong Thong Hou (runner up) from
Malaysia.24 The Japan Foundation then invited the winners to Japan for a ten-day visit that included the award presentation ceremony, meetings with
Japanese manga artists, and visits to related organizations. Conceivably, ethnic Chinese may win the International Manga Award in the next few years
because of the huge base of ethnic Chinese manga artists and fans but it remains to be seen whether the allure of manga can melt the hearts of the Chinese
people toward Japan given the lack of historical reconciliation. The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program is another important arm of its cultural
diplomacy (see Appendix 1). In 2005, JET invited 5,853 youths from 44 countries to teach in Japanese schools, and foster international understanding and
goodwill.25 By that year, JET has cumulatively sponsored more than 43,000 participants in this youth exchange program (see Appendix 2). Tokyo also has
an equivalent to the US Peace Corps known as the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) program comprising volunteers between the ages of 20
and 39 to assist the socio-economic development of local communities. Since its establishment in 1965, the JOCV has dispatched more than 22,000
volunteers to third world countries.26 Another pillar of Japanese “soft power” is Official Developmental Assistance (ODA) (US$6.24 billion in 2007)
extended to win the goodwill of developing countries. In lieu of military power, Tokyo, more than any other great powers, relies on ODA as carrots to
“purchase” power.27
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• Accepting foreign students to study in Japan and promoting a network of
friendly alumni is another means to enhance goodwill toward the host
country. The numbers of foreign students studying in Japan have climbed
from slightly over 40,000 in 1990 to 121,812 in 2005.28 Promoting the study
of the Japanese language abroad is another way to enhance an understanding
and appreciation of Japan. Interestingly, the number of foreign students
studying the Japanese language in 1990 (just before the bubble economy
burst) was 981,407 but climbed to 2,356,745 in 2003 despite the so-called
“lost decade”.29 Apparently, many students from the bubble years studied the
Japanese language for economic reasons but more students today are studying
the language because of their fascination and love for manga and anime. In so
doing, they may end up with a better understanding of Japan.
• Limits to Japanese “Soft Power” While Foreign Minister Aso is flattered that many foreigners are mesmerized by manga, the reality is often just the opposite. The Chinese
media has noted that certain manga promote anti-China sentiments.30 Indeed, notorious rightwing artists, especially Kobayashi Yoshinori, have sold millions of copies of
manga which portrays Imperial Japan as fighting a righteous war to liberate Asia from Western colonialism. While manga and anime do beguile some foreigners, their
attraction may be exaggerated especially for Asian countries with more conservative values and religion. They would consider certain adult manga and anime - often licentious
and violent - to be anathema to the good morality of their societies. Japan’s “soft power” has its limits. Without a historical reconciliation with China and South Korea, Japan
is unlikely to truly win the hearts and minds of the Chinese and Korean people, notwithstanding the allure of its comics and cartoons. “Soft power”, assiduously cultivated
over the years, can easily be undermined by the insensitive statements and clumsy behavior of a new generation of nationalistic leaders over politically sensitive issues
pertaining to Japan’s past militarism. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo initially remarked that there was no evidence of coercion by Japan’s wartime government in using Asian
women as sex slaves but then apologized to the “comfort women” to preempt a non-binding resolution at the US House of Representatives calling on Abe to formally
apologize for Tokyo’s role in the “comfort women” issue. To make matters worse, a group of Japanese right wing politicians (from both the LDP and the main opposition,
the Democratic Party of Japan [DPJ]), academics, journalists and commentators took a full page advertisement in the Washington Post in June 2007 and indignantly
denounced the “comfort women” issue as a gross distortion. This act of denial and petulance not only stiffened the resolve of many US politicians to support the resolution
but also damaged the international image of Japan as a country lacking remorse and sincerity over its wartime aggression and atrocities. The comment of the Asahi Shimbun is
apt: “It takes months, even years, to build up the respect that gives soft power - and all that is gained can be lost in a moment. When the Prime Minister or leading politicians
make provocative remarks that stir mistrust or anger, for instance, Japan quickly loses its ‘attractiveness’ to other countries”.31 Other limits to Japan’s “soft power” include
the lack of a CNN or BBC-like institution to project its voice globally, the reluctance of its universities to hire foreign faculty members beyond language teachers, the
relatively closed nature of its society to foreign immigrants to maintain ethnic homogeneity and social order, and the fact that Japanese is not a global language. The best
students in Asia would head toward the American Ivy League and Britain’s Oxbridge but not necessarily the Universities of Tokyo, Waseda and Keio. Its unique sumo
wrestling, while popular at home, has no large international audience unlike the soccer leagues of Western Europe. To be sure, sumo and Japanese martial arts such as judo,
karate, kendo, jujitsu and aikido do appeal enormously to small circles of non-Japanese. Though judo and karate are sports featured in the Olympic Games they pale in global
popularity in comparison to soccer and basketball. In contrast, the English Premier League, the Spanish Lega and the Italian Serie A matches are telecasted live into the living
rooms of East Asia.32 Similarly, while Japan has succeeded in exporting small numbers of baseball players to the US and a few footballers to Europe, its domestic baseball
and soccer leagues lack global appeal. Moreover, Japan does not represent any universal values and ideals while certain Western nations, especially the US, champion human
rights and democracy. Even though Tokyo recently adopted the rhetoric of democracy and human rights, other Asians do not necessarily view Japan as the paragon of these
values given its poor treatment of ethnic minorities (Japan-born Koreans and the Burakumins) and memories of wartime atrocities among the Chinese and Koreans. In
November 2006, Foreign Minister Aso advocated a “value-oriented diplomacy” based on the “universal” values of democracy, freedom, human rights, rule of law, and
market economy. A critic noted: “For Japan to be perceived as a legitimate proponent of democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia it must clearly and irrevocably cut its
ties to its imperial past”.33 Unfortunately, many politicians from the ruling LDP and the main opposition DPJ have failed to do so. Moreover, if the Abe Administration were
to stridently champion democracy to forge an alignment based on shared values with the US, Australia and India, this strategy may backfire because it may exclude and
alienate Asian countries especially China which do not subscribe to liberal democracy.
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• Conceivably, Japan’s domestic experiences in environmental protection and role in the Kyoto Protocol (which sets targets for
countries to reduce carbon dioxide emission and global warming) can conjure an attractive image of an environmentally friendly
nation. However, the Kyoto Protocol will expire in 2012. To ensure that Japan will lead in environmental protection in the years
ahead, Prime Minister Abe has advocated the cutting of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and would seek to forge an antiglobal
warming framework when Japan hosts the G-8 summit in Toyakocho, Hokkaido in July 2008. But Tokyo has stubbornly
insisted on whaling for “scientific research” despite condemnation from international conservationists that Japanese whaling fleets
are pushing some species to the brink of extinction. Being one of the few countries in the world that seeks to overturn the ban on
commercial whaling gives Japan a bad international image in the environmental domain.34 The commercial value of Japanese
cultural products in the world was estimated at US$12.5 billion in 2002.35 Harder to assess is the efficacy of Japanese “soft
power”. Can Japanese ODA and cultural diplomacy sway the Asian countries to do what Japan wants? The answer is contextual. It
really depends on what Japan wants and whether such desires and messages are acceptable to these Asian countries. Having large
budgets for ODA, the Japan Foundation, JET and JOCV programs are no guarantee that others will do Tokyo’s bidding.
Aficionados of Japanese cuisine will view it as refined, tasty and healthy but it is a fallacy to assume that most sushi lovers will
support Japan’s quest for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council or the Prime Minister’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine.
Japanese state and society should not be conflated together. Indeed, a liking for Japanese society and culture is not easily translated
into support for the Japanese state and its foreign policy goals. Public opinion polls in the US and Asia toward Japan can reveal the
efficacy of its cultural diplomacy. If the American and Asian public were to think poorly of Japan, it is doubtful that the latter has
indeed conducted a successful cultural diplomacy. The 2006 Image of Japan Study shows that 91 percent of American public
opinion leaders and 69 percent of the general public view Japan as a dependent ally.36 According to various surveys, public
opinion in Southeast Asia tends to view Japan very favorably while those in China and South Korea do not (see Appendix 3).37 It
appears that Japan lacks “soft power” toward China and South
• Korea due to historical problems and territorial disputes, notwithstanding the appeal of Japanese cultural products. While Koreans, like the Southeast
Asians, also have an appreciation for manga and anime, these cultural products are necessary but not sufficient for Japan to establish an appealing image in
Korea (see Appendix 4). Beyond Japanese “soft power” The utility of manga and anime for Japanese foreign relations is likely to be quite limited. For every
Asian enamored and entertained by these cultural products, there is probably another who find such things to be rather infantile and frivolous and therefore
unappealing. Moreover, in a globalized world, the Asian consumer is also bombarded with multiple images and cultural products from China, South Korea,
India and the West and is unlikely to be attracted to only things Nippon. It would be naïve to exaggerate the influence of Japanese cultural products if Tokyo
were to pursue policies deemed by its neighbors to be against their interest. Indeed, all the cultural ambassadors and manga prizes from Japan would not be
able to soothe the Chinese and Koreans if a Japanese Prime Minister were to visit Yasukuni Shrine again. A difficult challenge for Japan and East Asia in the
21st century is to transcend parochial nationalism and jointly produce “East Asian” cultural products which can appeal to the West and the rest. If transnational
collaboration were to take place in movies, TV serials, music and theater performances among East Asian countries in the next few decades, it may
not only reap a handsome profit but also pave the way for a nascent East Asian Community in which common cultural underpinnings are indispensable.
Cultural products including manga and anime then will not merely be markers of a unique Japanese identity and pride but emblems of a greater East Asia entertaining,
appealing and profitable beyond its shores. If that scenario were to come to fruition, it will be more meaningful to talk about the “soft power”
of East Asia and not merely that of China or Japan. In March 2007, Japan and Singapore agreed to establish a Japan Center to disseminate Japanese popular
culture in Southeast Asia. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recorded: “Prime Minister Abe stated that the establishment of the ‘Japan Center’ (note:
a proposal by Singapore to establish a base in Singapore to disseminate information about Japan, especially on cultural information) was of significance ...
Prime Minister Lee (Hsien Loong) on his part stated that the ‘Japan center’ could serve as the foundation for Japan to exert its soft power in Southeast Asia,
and proposed that the two countries jointly produce television programs that showcased information on Japanese culture and lifestyles for broadcasting
throughout Southeast Asia and that the two countries collaborate in interactive media industry”.38 Perhaps the Japan-Singapore model of cultural
collaboration can be tried out in Japan’s relations with other Southeast Asian countries, and China and South Korea in the next decade. Rather than just a
one-way street in which Tokyo seeks to
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• promote its culture and “soft power” in East Asia, it should also
explore joint ventures to encourage Southeast Asia, China and South
Korea to establish their cultural centers in Japan. An acceptance and
appreciation of the contemporary cultures of other East Asian
countries by Japan will probably make them even more receptive to
Japanese “soft power”. And if Japan can settle the history issue with its
neighbors, Japanese “soft power” will be further enhanced in the
region.
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