Diplomatic studies should strengthen and expand
As a discipline exploring diplomatic thought, systems, behaviors and policies, diplomatic studies is both theoretical and practical. Diplomatic practices at the national, regional and global levels are what diplomatic studies focus on. Sticking to the path of peaceful development, China has carried out diplomatic practices with distinctive Chinese characteristics, accumulating abundant diplomatic experience. In particular, since the opening of the 18th CPC National Congress, keeping in mind both the world’s and its own development trends while maintaining a pioneering spirit, China has made historic achievements in promoting major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. In the new era, diplomatic studies should strengthen its focus on China’s role, the Chinese path and China’s experience in diplomacy, expand research fields, and enrich research topics, so as to make more academic contributions to China’s practice of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.
The world’s immense development and transformation has introduced various new problems in diplomatic studies. In addition to bilateral diplomacy, multilateral diplomacy, public diplomacy, economic diplomacy, environmental diplomacy and cultural diplomacy, which have been discussed thoroughly, there are also some frontier issues that deserve our attention so as to better promote the further development of disciplines.
Attention should be paid to the study of organizational diplomacy. Over the years, China has upheld multilateralism within the framework of the United Nations, the G20, the World Trade Organization and other international organizations through a large number of fruitful diplomatic activities, so as to safeguard the interests of developing countries and promote the peace and development of China and the world. Some diplomatic activities and phenomena with prominent organizational features should be further studied to explore China’s participation in the decision-making procedures, rules and policymaking of international organizations. Such is how we can provide intellectual support for improving China’s influence in the system of international organizations.
Issues related to regional diplomacy should be studied. Being somewhere between bilateral and global relations, regional relations are mainly established among countries and regions within an area. For instance, APEC, a platform dedicated to promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth, has strongly promoted global trade development and regional economic cooperation. China’s development relies on Asia. However, Asia is beset by all kinds of long-standing and emerging problems. The new Asian security concept and the Asian community of shared future proposed by President Xi Jinping are of great guiding significance for the common development of Asia. Efforts should be made to strengthen the study and interpretation of the new security concept and the Asian community of shared future and to focus on how to strengthen regional mutual trust, unity and identity.
People-to-people diplomacy also deserves our attention. In addition to diplomatic activities between states and government agencies, people-to-people diplomatic mechanisms also play an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and cultural exchanges. As people-to-people diplomacy is an important part of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, great efforts should be made to study the role of people-to-people diplomacy in promoting world economic and cultural exchanges and how it influences national policy planning, so as to promote mutual understanding and respect among the peoples of all countries.
A comprehensive study of diplomatic negotiations should be an indispensable part of diplomatic studies. Diplomatic negotiations, which are common in the field of diplomacy, are increasingly complex, so it is necessary to expand the comprehensive study of diplomatic negotiations. Given the fact that the changes of the world structure and the domestic realities of different countries will affect diplomatic negotiations, we need to analyze the international and domestic elements that affect diplomatic negotiations, fully grasp and carefully study past negotiation cases, and strive to cultivate more high-quality negotiation talent.
Attention should also be paid to digital diplomacy and intelligent diplomacy. Today, technological innovations such as network information technology, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence have a major impact on diplomatic activities. Thus, digital diplomacy has become a new way to develop digital technology, create an international image and carry out overseas publicity. Artificial intelligence systems, which assist in reading and analyzing data, can provide important references for overseas decision-making. With the increasingly fierce competition among countries in emerging technologies, the call for cooperation is also growing. Diplomatic studies should actively explore new trends and rules in the fields of digital diplomacy and intelligent diplomacy while actively participating in and guiding the establishment of relevant international systems, so as to make fitting contributions to the orderly development of relevant diplomatic activities in fields featuring new technologies.
This article was edited and translated from People’s Daily. Liu Xinghua is an associate professor from the Zhou Enlai School of Government at Nankai University.
edited by CHEN ALONG