Wang Li, Yi-zhong, moderndiplomacy.eu
Zhou Enlai image from article
Excerpt:
In a survey of China’s politics since 1949, Premier Zhou Enlai is an undisputedly great statesman as he took charge of state affairs for 26 years (1949-1976) including his vital roles in policy-making, strategic maneuver and all talks with the former Soviet Union, France, the United States, Japan and many other states. ...
During the Cold War, China was illegally excluded from the United Nations for 22 years, during which Zhou had entirely and eagerly worked for Beijing’s legitimate right in the U.N. and in the world as well. He smartly responded to China’s semi-isolated reality with “people’s diplomacy” aiming to project China to the world public that it is a peace-loving rather than a trouble-maker country in the international community. He vividly used a metaphor to describe China’s diplomacy as a bird with twin–wings, the government was the main body of the bird and “people’s diplomacy” acting as two wings, one was economic aid; other cultural exchanges. Both aims to attract and co-opt, rather than by coercion (hard power). That is exactly what it has been termed of the public diplomacy based upon soft power [JB emphasis]: the ability to shape the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. Hence Zhou alongside other Chinese leaders considered continuity of relationships as important task and perhaps more important than formal documents. Nowadays, President Xi has appeared greeting foreign dignitaries or the interlocutors like President Trump and many others as if the friendship are already an established fact between them. ...
No comments:
Post a Comment