Behind China’s perception on Catalonia’s move: it’s the concern

Wang Li, moderndiplomacy.eu

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Excerpt:

Since it falls within Spain's internal affairs, China understands and supports the Spanish government's effort to uphold national unity, ethnic solidarity and territorial integrity, oppose the act of splitting the country and undermining the rule of law. As China and Spain have been friendly countries from the 1970s, both sides will continue to develop cooperation in terms of mutual respect for each other's sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference into each other's internal business. ...

[A]s a rising power in the global affairs, China has paid increasing attention to public diplomacy, which has been defined as one of the most salient political communication issues in the 21st century. In reality, public diplomacy is inevitably linked to power, or exactly soft power, therefore it is more based on intangible or indirect influence such as culture, values and ideology. In light of the successful stories and the lessons of the United States over the past decades, China must invest in measures that lead to better ties that bound: much more fundamental is the efforts to promote Beijing’s public image, cultivated in part by its soft power, because the final attraction is to make others want to accept rather than reject China’s domestic governance and international influence. ...