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China’s ‘Silk Road’ Public Diplomacy in Central Asia: Rethinking the ‘Network’ Approach to the Study of Public Diplomacy and Its Instrumentalism

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Transnational Sites of China’s Cultural Diplomacy

Abstract

This chapter shows how the Chinese government’s foreign policy agenda offers opportunities and benefits to public and cultural actors in Central Asia through the ‘Silk Road’ initiative. It begins by contextualizing the ‘Silk Road’ public diplomacy strategy in terms of the general debates on soft power and the public diplomacy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It analyzes the conceptual framework for studying people-to-people exchange and the involvement of local actors and notes that the Chinese state and its policies are mostly studied as imposed, top-down, and thus inauthentic initiatives. The chapter then uses the ‘network approach’ to public diplomacy (Hocking 2005) as well as debates on the instrumentalism of cultural policy (Nisbett 2013) to introduce a new perspective into the debate. The approach is illustrated using examples of dynamics within the academic and cultural networks in the major cities of Almaty (in Kazakhstan) and Tashkent (in Uzbekistan). In the conclusion, the chapter suggests adopting insights from transnationalism to study public diplomacy and, specifically, explores how the scope of the study of the ‘new public diplomacy’ might be theoretically broadened in the future. The chapter argues that public diplomacy not only needs a ‘new’ name or perception, but also needs to step outside of critical or applied approaches and to change units of reference and analysis that are not dependent only on ‘China’ (or the nation-state) and the idea of monocentric distribution of power, interests, and resources.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Zhao Qizheng and others argue that in public diplomacy the PRC ‘wants primarily to seek common ground by conveying the above-mentioned idea of ‘he er bu tong’ (harmonious but different; harmony without suppressing differences, Li 2008, 25). The full saying means ‘living in harmony without demanding agreement, seeking common ground while setting aside differences’ (Zhao 2012, 28; d’Hooghe 2015, 125).

  2. 2.

    In November 2014, Nazarbayev also announced the new economic policy ‘Nurli Jol,’ which largely corresponds to the PRC’s plan to develop the ‘Silk Road Economic Zone.’

  3. 3.

    Thus noting a space for diverse actors within the PRC’s cultural diplomacy, such as MFA, Embassies, etc. (cf. d’Hooghe).

  4. 4.

    Others claim that policy is always instrumental, and that it is a misunderstanding to expect that cultural policy would be different in any way. The aim is to achieve change. It is an ‘ordinary’ rather than an ‘exceptional’ domain of policy making (Vestheim 2012; Hesmondhalgh 2005).

  5. 5.

    The Uzbek leadership has signed a strategic partnership with the PRC and, given the development of China in the last thirty years, is interested in studying diverse political, economic, and social aspects of contemporary China. In 1990, during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Oriental Institute at Tashkent State University was created, and in 1991 it was reorganized into the Tashkent State Oriental Institute. The number of departments and specialisms grew, yet it struggled with a lack of funding, students, and teachers.

  6. 6.

    Previously the Oriental Institute at the Academy of Sciences; independent again since 2017, transferred back to the scheme of the Academy of Sciences.

  7. 7.

    Among other things, representatives of the PRC’s embassy cite as factors that make it difficult for Chinese teachers to move to Uzbekistan low salaries and unfavorable climatic conditions, but also the Uzbek government’s refusal to issue visas (the Uzbek regime controls the influx of foreigners).

  8. 8.

    There are clubs in different departments, such as the ‘Club of admirers of Chinese culture’ (in the Department of Chinese Language and Culture) and the ‘China club’ (in the Economics Department).

  9. 9.

    Some of the Chinese teachers are also allowed and invited to present their own research findings.

  10. 10.

    It feeds in to both the Uzbek narrative of the Silk Road and the Chinese message. In these publications, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Great Silk Road’ becomes a toponym (place name)—a trend that we can observe in other publications by authors from Central Asia not primarily financially supported by China (Sadovskaya 2014).

  11. 11.

    During the personal conversation Khodjayev underlined that: ‘I do not agree that they consider that the first Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian opened the Grand Silk Road, it is not correct. He opened it for China (emphasizes), but until then surrounding nations of Turks, traders started to go to China, there is a lot of evidence for this… those who work because of science they can find out, assure themselves. Those who work for politics they might not agree.’

  12. 12.

    In recent years, Chinese government included the Dungan in the ‘overseas Chinese ethnic minority’ category. This term aims primarily to extend Chinese culture and identity beyond the political boundaries of mainland China (Barabantseva 2011; Jimenez-Tovar 2016). In books published in China and distributed in Almaty or Tashkent, Dungan culture is promoted as one of the cultures of national minorities in the PRC (Ying and Wang 2009). Different diaspora-oriented research shows that members of this ‘group’ mostly regard Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries as their homeland and associate China with their historical homeland.

  13. 13.

    According to An Husei, Taras is the oldest town on the Silk Road, with more than 2000 years of history.

  14. 14.

    We can even say that some manipulate it to stay alive, or to be able to perform their profession.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Věra Exnerová

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  1. Věra Exnerová
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jarmila Ptáčková

  2. Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Klimeš

  3. University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China

    Gary Rawnsley

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Exnerová, V. (2021). China’s ‘Silk Road’ Public Diplomacy in Central Asia: Rethinking the ‘Network’ Approach to the Study of Public Diplomacy and Its Instrumentalism. In: Ptáčková, J., Klimeš, O., Rawnsley, G. (eds) Transnational Sites of China’s Cultural Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5592-3_4

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