华侨华人与中国的公共外交: 理论建构与现实挑战

Abstract

China has the largest diaspora in the world, with an estimation of over 60 million in 2014. Ethnic Chinese overseas share some common historical memories and cultures and thus have better understandings of China’s policies; and they directly build up the image of “Chinese” in foreign lands and proactively take the advantages in Sino-Foreign engagement. China pays special attention to the roles that overseas Chinese can play in its communication and exchanges with international communities against the backdrop that China has been increasingly involved into world politics and integrated into global economy. Diasporas have been recognized as valuable resources by states to serve the construction and strategic development of their home countries and promote mutual trust and understanding in international relations. It is a common practice for Israel, India, Japan, South Korea and many other major countries in the world to utilize the resources of the diaspora for diplomacy by strengthening the psychological, cultural and economic bonds with their diasporas. The constructs of ethnic identity produce appeals for power seeking states. Chinese government, ever since the Mao era, has been engaging the Chinese diaspora in the process of modernization and the communication between China and the external world, and the state leaders view soft power as an indispensable part of comprehensive national strength. Therefore, China pursuing to increase its capability to disseminate information and ideas in the campaign of soft power attaches great importance to overseas Chinese in promoting public diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges. Chinese authorities put forward the concept of “diaspora public diplomacy” in 2011 and constantly make efforts in developing diaspora policies and institutions for transnational expansion of influence and global reach. The working mechanism of diaspora public diplomacy is as follows: through a diverse range of government-led cultural and economic exchanges with and policy interpretations to overseas Chinese, the relevant departments of China will guide them to correctly understand China’s social conditions and public sentiment and opinions; and then the Chinese diaspora will disseminate Chinese-related information and explicate it to the local public and government with indigenized expressions that can be effectively received and understood by the local communities, so as to increase the extent of recognition and favorability among the external audiences and further promote the local government to stipulate and implement friendly policy towards China which would be consistent with China’s national interests. In this process, overseas Chinese have dual identities. They are firstly the intermedium transmitters of China's public diplomacy mainly conducted by government’s overseas Chinese affairs institutions, and then the agents of China’s public diplomacy in regards to the communication with the foreign publics and governments. In practice, China relies on overseas Chinese as its base to project Chinese soft power, mobilizes the diaspora with Chinese language and culture appeal, and follows the principles of cooperation and mutual benefits (good for the overseas Chinese, good for their residing country and good for China). China has made efforts to enhance media capacity by partaking or involving overseas Chinese media to tell the stories of China and spread the culture of China, which increases creativity and credibility of China’s publicity and meanwhile strengthens the ties of “Chinese”; China has conducted a series of reforms in laws and regulations relating to immigration and a variety of economic sectors to attract foreign investments and talents; China calls on the diaspora to actively integrate into the local society while maintaining “Chineseness” identities and make contributions to the development and progress of the country they reside in, to consolidate the mutual trust on international level and establish the positive image of overseas Chinese as a group. However, the Westphalian nation-state system doubts the loyalty of ethnic groups in the political perspective and the western society follows realism approaches in understanding China’s increasing strength and presence in international community; China faces massive scale smears and attacks on its ideology and policies. The transition to assertiveness of China on international issues and the complexities of international relations make the practice of diaspora public diplomacy harder to advance. The host country and media coverage tend to interpret China’s diaspora public diplomacy by state-centric approaches and the multidimensionality in diaspora’s homeland engagement leads to public sentiment of suspicion and even hatred. In some countries and regions, Chinese national students, diasporic Chinese and locals with Chinese ancestry are deemed as “the fifth column” that are seeking for expansion of communist interests and influence, posing threats to their security. And there are some overseas Chinese who do not agree with China’s policy are still “tarnishing” China, which, to a certain extent, damages China’s image. To recapitulate, China should make realistic appraisal of the international environment and push forward its international engagement with more flexible and indigenized diaspora public diplomacy. In practice, Chinese diaspora policies should adhere to the principle of mutual benefits and accommodate the needs and interests of both Chinese diasporic communities and the foreign audiences, dismissing the thinking that overseas Chinese should and will actively strive for the development of the country of their ancestors and serve as the foundation for promoting China’s grand strategy such as the Belt and the Road. In carrying out specific programs, China should make differences between domestic and external-oriented affairs, differentiating approaches and means in terms of communication and propaganda according to the varying conditions in targeted countries or regions and norms of other nationals and ethnic groups. The link of psycho-cultural and phenotypic ethnic identities should be consolidated between the motherland and overseas Chinese. Diasporic engagement in public diplomacy and overseas Chinese affairs falling under the responsibilities of official institutions should be coordinated with a holistic perspective by the state, so as to promote the appeal of China and improve China’s relations with foreign countries.