Research On The Public Diplomacy Of The Nationalist Government During The Anti-Japanese War

In this paper,public diplomacy activities of the Nationalist government during the period of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression were introduced.After that,Hu Shih’s speech in America was chosen as a case to analyze his public diplomacy as a special envoy and the ambassador to the United States of America from 1937 to 1942.During the period of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression,the Nationalist government attached great importance to diplomacy in order to obtain foreign assistance and win sympathy from the international community.The Nationalist government implemented a large quantity of public diplomacy activities except its official diplomatic negotiations with foreign governments.As far as main content was concerned,public diplomacy implemented by the Nationalist government during this period included both external propaganda and international cultural communication.From the perspective of subject of implementation,however,the Nationalist government’s public diplomacy showed its diversification.First,governmental agencies and related social organizations constituted main forces implementing public diplomacy.Second,some influential persons,including statesmen and diplomats,were important individual forces implementing public diplomacy.Third,some foreign forces were depended on as beneficial supplemental forces when the Nationalist government implemented public diplomacy activities.Public diplomacy activities implemented by Hu Shih as a special envoy and the ambassador to the United States of America were important part of the Nationalist government’s public diplomacy in wartime.Considering many factors,the Nationalist government decided to send Hu Shih to America as a special envoy for propaganda soon after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out in 1937.Hu Shih was appointed as the ambassador to the United States of America in September,1938 and he left office in September,1942.During this 5 years,Hu Shih did his utmost to implement public diplomacy by means of speech or address in America.Hu Shih’s public diplomacy was effective in that it disseminated an enormous amount of information concerning China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and further pushed America in the direction of assisting China and imposing sanctions against Japan.Compared with inter-governmental diplomacy,however,Hu Shih’s public diplomacy was a slow work after all which was difficult to produce an immediate effect and consequently was hard to satisfy the Nationalist government’s urgent demands for America’s substantial China-assisting measures.As a natural result,Hu Shih’s diplomatic performance was not recognized by the leadership of the Nationalist government,especially Chiang Kai-shek.Moreover,Hu Shih’s public diplomacy obviously had a tendency of “romanticizing China”,showing the limitations of his public diplomacy.