Thursday, April 21, 2016

Australia's Public Diplomacy Challenges - Engaging with China in the Asian Century


Australian Institute of International Affairs

WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL 2016 6:00PM TO 7:30PM

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Presented by Professor John Fitzgerald FAHA, Swinburne University of Technology.

Like other states, the People’s Republic of China promotes international trade, investment, security and people-to-people ties through an active public diplomacy program abroad. At one level China’s public diplomacy program targets cultural agreements and exchanges, public events, media and print publications, and educational programs. But on another level, China has developed a concerted program specifically targeting China’s ethnic diasporas, for example through Chinese-language media in Australia.

China’s strategy of targeting Chinese Australians, as patriotic Chinese, is not matched by Australian government or community engagement with Chinese Australians as Australians. In the absence of a strategy to engage Australia’s own Chinese communities in relation to China, the voice of the Chinese-Australian community and the shape of broader Australian community life is increasingly shaped by national strategies drafted in Beijing.

Australia’s Chinese communities are among its greatest assets for building closer social, cultural, educational and trading ties with China and the wider Asia-Pacific region. How should Australia shape its public diplomacy in the digital age? How do we meet the public diplomacy challenge of engaging Asian diasporas in bilateral relations?

AIIA Victoria invites you to join Professor John Fitzgerald, one of Australia’s leading Sinologists, for a timely and thought-provoking discussion.

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