ABSTRACTS

Viewpoints

China’s Public Diplomacy under New Circumstances Calls for Action-Oriented Think Tanks Han Fangming •1•

China’s overall diplomacy is facing an unprecedentedly complex and severe international environment, which requires corresponding strategy and capability to cope with such a situation. China’s overall diplomacy consists of two important parts: official diplomacy and public diplomacy. The greater the synergy between the two, the greater the resultant effect there will be. The improvement of public diplomacy capability requires the research and advocacy role of China’s new think tanks. The dual role of taking the lead and action played by think tanks in diplomacy and international relations in public diplomacy is of great value and significance to the improvement of China’s public diplomacy capability. The Charhar Institute, a think tank on international relations, has been working hard to play the dual role of a proponent and an actor. Since its establishment in 2009, it has been committed to promoting China’s public diplomacy and peace initiatives.

The Charhar Institute has played a relatively important role by taking the lead in promoting and practicing public diplomacy. It is transforming itself into an actionoriented think tank with world peace building as its main goal through international exchanges.

Exclusire Interview

How to Better “Turn Danger into Opportunity” Through China’s Public Diplomacy in the New Era—Interview with Zhou Hanmin Zhou Hanmin •6•

On May 10, 2023, Dr. Su Liuqiang, assistant research fellow of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, conducted an interview with Mr. Zhou Hanmin, who is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Vice Chairman of the National Committee of China Democratic National Construction Association, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, Chairman of the 13th Shanghai Municipal Committee of China Democratic National Construction Association, President of the Shanghai Institute of Socialism, Director of the Shanghai Chinese Vocational Education Association, and President of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association. Zhou has been engaged in public diplomacy for a long time and made remarkable achievements in the theory and practice of public diplomacy with wide influence in China. In the interview, he said that China’s public diplomacy is an important part of the country’s overall diplomacy. He elaborated on the importance and flexibility of public diplomacy citing the cases of preparing for the Shanghai World Expo and the “Meeting Room on the Huangpu River”. He pointed out that China’s current public diplomatic initiative is not enough, and Chinese scholars should go out and focus on conducting academic exchanges. He also reiterated that the core and most important task of China’s public diplomacy in the new era we live in is to explain that “China is a great modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics”, so as to have influence on and appeal to others.

Special Topic: Think Tanks and Public Diplomacy

A New Approach for Think Tanks to Conduct Public Diplomacy in the Post-Pandemic Era Yu Yunquan & Fei Wenli •17•

As a source of innovative ideas in public diplomacy, think tanks have become actors with the greatest credibility and leadership in the whole public diplomacy structure. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese think tanks gave full play to the role of dual track diplomacy, playing the part as a “buffer” and “booster” in international multilateral and bilateral diplomatic affairs, and a substantial auxiliary and complementary role in steadily promoting the sound development of public diplomacy in the country. In the post-pandemic era, with the evolution of the international landscape, as well as technological innovation

and the struggle among political forces, public diplomacy of various countries face multiple internal and external challenges. Despite the difficulties and challenges, countries around the world have been compelled by Covid-19 to readjust their thinking and methods of public diplomacy and international communications, which has, to some extent, promoted the transformation and upgrading of the public diplomacy theory and practice.

The Global Civilization Initiative and the New Mission of Think Tanks in Public Diplomacy: From Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilizations to Civilization Dialogues and the Creation of a New Form of Human Progress Wang Yiwei •26•

On March 15, 2023, in his keynote speech at the High-level Dialogue between the Communist Party of China and World’s Political Parties, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the Global Civilization Initiative. The Global Civilization Initiative has entrusted think tanks with a new mission of public diplomacy: to realize amity among peoples, and create a new model of human progress by going from cultural exchanges targeted to certain countries to widescope international cultural exchanges, from promoting creative transmission and innovative development of fine traditional cultures to global civilization dialogues. Public diplomacy conducted by think tanks should focus on telling the true story of China in the new era and explaining the relationship between Chinese modernization, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the global community of shared future to win the hearts and minds of the people.

A Bigger Role Can Be Played by Think Tanks in Public Diplomacy Wang Huiyao & Miao Lv •35•

In the new context of globalization, public diplomacy and official diplomacy can effectively complement each other to contribute to improving national image abroad, safeguarding national interests and boosting people-to-people exchanges. As important participants in public diplomacy, think tanks can build a multidimensional and efficient international communication system through a wide range of people-to-people exchanges in many fields between China and other countries, which can better shape and enrich China’s international image. The Center for China & Globalization (CCG), an internationalized private think tank in China, has been engaged in public diplomacy for a long time. This paper, taking the practice of the CCG’s public diplomacy as a case of study, mainly analyzes the role of think tanks in public diplomacy, and puts forward suggestions for better participation of think tanks in public diplomacy.

Building Action-Oriented Think Tanks in the New Era and Deepening Public Diplomacy by Think Tanks Li Dingxin & Huang Hui •43•

At present, against the backdrop of great changes unseen in a century, the communication between countries and peoples has become more and more precious and indispensable. The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out

that exchanges, mutual learning and coexistence of civilizations should be carried out to jointly cope with various global challenges. In modern society, think tanks are important “factories” for the production of knowledge and ideas, and important platforms for promoting ideological and cultural exchanges among countries, peoples and civilizations. This paper discusses the importance and the destined development direction for building non-official think tanks in institutes of higher learning and scientific academies as well as other non-governmental think tanks into action-oriented organizations. It also points out the shortcomings of current non-governmental think tanks.

Ideological Contributions: China’s Practice in Providing Global Public Knowledge Goods Zheng Fangyuan & Zhai Kun•51•

The development and progress of human society cannot be separated from the guidance of advanced ideas. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, China, as an emerging global power, has been undergoing a role change from a consumer to a supplier of global public knowledge goods. The global public knowledge goods mentioned here refer to a set of global ideas, principles, concepts, knowledge and theories that China has gradually developed from its own experience while promoting the reform of global governance and solving global issues, which centers on the concept of building a global community of shared future. China’s practice in contributing ideas to global public knowledge goods calls for better playing the public diplomacy function of think tanks.

Practice of Public Diplomacy

The Significance of University Associations to China’s Public Diplomacy—Take the Southeast Asian Association of Peking University as an Example Zhang Weilun •59•

Nowadays, with diplomacy increasingly becoming an open and socialized topic, university associations have become important players in public diplomacy with their unique strengths. University associations associated with international studies have promoted public diplomacy with the people-to-people bond at the core, involving empathy, intergenerational continuity and solid interest foundations. The Southeast Asian Association of Peking University is a model in public diplomacy among Chinese institutions of higher learning. Its high-quality activities, such as the China-ASEAN Youth Summit, the Lancang-Mekong Sustainable Vision Action, and the Youth Think Tank, have integrated the resources of universities and effectively promoted the building of the China-ASEAN Youth Community. At the same time, it has also provided many useful experiences for Chinese universities to carry out public diplomacy, including having international visitors, helping young students “going abroad”, and strengthening internet publicity connection.

Engaging in Public Diplomacy through Simulating UN Activities Cao Shuye •67• Since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, simulating UN activities have become popular on university campuses of European countries and the United States in the 1950s. With a history of more than 70 years, it has now become popular all over the world, in various forms and sizes, with participants ranging from college students to high school students and even junior high school students. In the 1990s, simulating UN activities was introduced into China and was first launched in some universities and international high schools, laying a high-quality popular foundation for training and selecting more participants committed to the United Nations and international organizations, multilateral diplomatic and international exchanges among young people. At present, the development of simulating UN activities in China faces many problems. Dwelling on these problems, this paper briefly discusses how to strengthen the development of simulating UN activities in China by means of public diplomacy.

The Panda Charm in the New Era Boosts China’s Public Diplomacy Yu Wanying •75•

The purpose of public diplomacy is to win the hearts and minds of people of other countries and achieve “amity and heart-to-heart communication between the peoples”, because only when a relationship is based on true feelings can it be strong and stand the test of time. If the panda was regarded as a national symbol of China in the past, the “panda charm” in the new era puts more emphasis on internationalization and affinity that connect the emotions of the people. This emotional bond brings down physical and psychological barriers such as language, culture, geography and ideology in communication, and can form emotional resonance, thus reducing psychological estrangement. Therefore, panda has become a unity of political, economic, cultural and emotional values.

Friendship Ripples in Border Areas: the Micro-Practice of a China-Neighbor Community of Shared Future in Cross-Border Friendly Villages Zhang Gaoyuan •82•

Cross-border friendly villages refer to border villages of one country and its neighbors that have entered friendship and cooperation agreements with the purpose of promoting traditionally friendly relations and socio-economic development. Thanks to these agreements, activities such as cultural exchanges among border residents, free medical treatment and health training, farming and animal husbandry technology training, designated assistance programs, and publicity on drug control and AIDS prevention are regularly carried out between the villages. These villages represent the most basic and micro practice of “friendly international relations”. Like international sister cities and cross-border friendly towns, crossborder friendly villages are also a comprehensive development platform. China’s cross-border friendly villages with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam promote friendly relations between the two sides through building the “shared security and stability fence”, the “ economic mutual assistance chain”, the “ cultural integration network” and the “environmental co-governance link”, thus boosting the building of a community of shared future between China and its neighboring countries.

A Review of Merkel’s Mode of Summit Diplomacy Towards China Chen Ting & Zhong Xin •90• “Summit diplomacy” generally refers to the formal and informal activities that a head of state or government personally participates as the top diplomatic decisionmaker in order to realize national interests. In the era of globalization, influenced by complex factors such as media technology revolution, the increasing penetration of public opinion in the field of diplomacy and global crisis management of risk society, “ summit diplomacy” has attained the compound attribute of both traditional government diplomacy and public diplomacy. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel actively practiced summit diplomacy towards China during her 16-year term as chancellor. Now that Merkel officially left office in October 2021, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to review and analyze the mode of summit diplomacy towards China led by Merkel.

A Dynamic Analysis of American Academic Research on China Issues—Take the Fairbank Center for China Studies at Harvard University as an Example Jing Jiang •98•

Since the start of the US “trade war” against China in 2018, China-US relations have undergone a typical “ paradigm shift” in foreign policy and international relation analysis. The “theory” promoted by the United States has a set of “perfect” logics in its own close loop, with theoretical backup by many scholars for the national strategic actions of the United States. On the whole, American scholars are seriously considering the issue of comprehensive competition with China, and actively building a theoretical system of “American narratives” concerning China. In spite of this, there are still some American scholars who maintain a rigorous scholarly attitude of respecting facts, and insist on normal academic exchanges with Chinese scholars in a social atmosphere unfriendly to China.

Towards 2030: the Management Model of the Erasmus Program and New Development Trends in the European Union Lin Yingjuan & Zhang Dike •107•

From its inception in 1987 to the operation of the Erasmus+Program in 2014, and then to the new implementation period beginning in 2021, the operation and management mode of the Erasmus Program has been adjusted and upgraded several times, and gradually it developed into a flagship program in the field of global people-to-people exchange. Thanks to its embedment in the process of European integration and the construction and development of the European Higher Education Area, the Erasmus Program has a high degree of institutionalized management and operation, diverse sub-programs, a timely updated development agenda, and a wide range of benefits, thus increasing its influence with each passing day. This program has enhanced the influence of European educational culture in a multi-dimensional and integrated way by boosting the cross-border flow of learning, expanding the network of partnership cooperation, and promoting the capacity building of higher education, and has thus achieved the goal of coordinating the implementation and promotion of EU priority development agenda both internally and externally.

Book Review

Exploring the Way to “ Real Peace ”: a Review of Peace & Conflict Studies Liu Junguo •118•

Peace and Conflict Studies (written by David P. Barash and Charles P. Webel, translated by Liu Cheng, and published by Nanjing Press, April 2016) explains 21 topics of peace studies from a macro perspective, and divides them into four groups: “peace”, “war”, “negative peace” and “positive peace”. As a mustread for East and West studies of peace and conflict, the authors explain the origin of “war” by defining “peace” and contradict the effectiveness of “positive peace” with “negative peace”. The concept that “there is no road to peace, but peace is the road” runs through.