EAI Fellows Program Working Paper Series No.43
 

Author

Patrick Koellner is director of the Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies. He is also a professor of political science at the University of Hamburg.

Email: patrick.koellner@giga-hamburg.de. Internet: http://staff.en.giga-hamburg.de/koellner

The growing role that China is playing in global economy, international security, and other countries’ calculation of their national interests has caused policymakers, academics, and the media around the world to take note of the impact of China’s new ascendency on world peace and international order. There has been a more or less consistent belief that a rising China spells trouble to the existent Western-dominated international order (Goldstein, 1997; Johnston, 2003; Glaser and Medeiros, 2007; Buzan 2010). Since the new generation of communist leaders came to power in 2012, many Western powers and Asian states have become increasingly wary of China’s growing assertiveness in both foreign and defence policies. Besides its eye-catching development of blue-water and space warfare capabilities such as the rollout of its new stealth fighter and aircraft carrier, China has become ostensibly hawkish in its handling of territorial disputes with Asian neighbours. In addition, as an authoritarian state on the rise, communist China’s policy orientations have always raised doubts for liberal democratic states. Against this backdrop, China’s new communist leaders face an uphill battle to communicate with international audiences, promote its national image, and advance its national interests.

Soft power, an important conceptual approach to understanding a state’s foreign policy, has been embraced by China’s policymakers and applied to the country’s many foreign policy initiatives during the last two decades (Kurlantzick, 2008; Ding 2008; Barr 2011). Harvard professor Joseph Nye (2010) has argued that government-led international communication can contribute to the country’s public diplomacy in three communication dimensions — daily, strategic, and long-lasting. After the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, China’s communist leaders continued to emphasize the role of public diplomacy in developing and wielding Chinese soft power. The 41-million Chinese diaspora, including both foreign citizens of Chinese ancestry and Chinese citizens living abroad, has become an increasingly important factor in China’s public diplomacy. During the past few years, China’s communist leaders have adopted a series of new diaspora engagement policies to wield Chinese soft power and communicate China’s ideas to the outside world.

Through conceptual discussions and policy analyses, this article examines China’s new dias-pora engagement policies in the Xi era. First, this article presents conceptual discussions of the Chinese diaspora, the soft power concept, and the needs of a rising China for public diplomacy. It is argued that while China is pursuing firmer projection of its hard power, the new communist leaders need to actively wield Chinese soft power and effectively engage the Chinese diaspora with its improved public diplomacy. Second, this article examines the evolution of the communist gov-ernment’s policies and practices in dealing with the Chinese diaspora from the perspective of public diplomacy. Based on historical and policy comparisons, it is argued that China’s new diaspora engagement policies need to fit China’s new vision of public diplomacy. Third, this article explicates the three new diaspora engagement policies in the Xi era — new immigration reform to win the minds and hearts of overseas Chinese, new international communication tactics to improve China’s national image, and new cultural and education campaigns to shape the cultural identity of overseas Chinese...(Continued)