China's Poverty Alleviation Diplomacy Research

To eradicate poverty and realize sustainable development are the historical tasks for the international community,especially for the developing countries,and also are important areas of international cooperation for development.Poverty reduction,whether from the perspective of economy,politics,security or global governance,has already been incorporated into a country's diplomatic strategies.So far it has become an important channel to achieve strategic diplomatic objectives and played different roles in different periods of time.Poverty reduction.diplomacy is essentially one way to implement diplomacy.As for the practice of foreign assistance,it is not a new approach that poverty reduction is taken as a means to achieve diplomatic objectives.But if the academic analysis is done from the diplomatic aspect,poverty reduction diplomacy is indeed a new concept.Guided by Marxist historical materialism and dialectics and originated from practice,the paper puts forward the concept of "poverty reduction diplomacy" and makes a theoretical analysis according to Mao Zedong's epistemology and practice theory so as to further analyze the features of China's poverty reduction diplomacy and offer relevant policy suggestions.Based on the basic concepts of induction and deduction,the paper systematically analyzes China's poverty reduction diplomacy by means of policy research,comparative research and case studies.The basic concept of poverty reduction diplomacy can be defined as:one country's behavior of supporting other countries' poor people out of poverty or participating in global poverty governance through peaceful means or channels,serves as a tool to achieve the country's overall diplomatic goals.The ways to implement it mainly includes:poverty reduction assistance,experience sharing and the participation of global poverty governance.The main features are:it is less likely to be controversial;it's easy to reach consensus;it is multifaceted and offers more flexibility;it is down-to-earth and easy to sustain;it spreads experience and highlights the philosophy of development.From the practical point of view,due to its own characteristics,poverty reduction diplomacy is not very clear in terms of its boundary and thus can be combined and complemented with other forms of diplomacy such as aid diplomacy,public diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy.China is the first developing country in the world to achieve the poverty reduction goals of the UN Millennium Development Goals.Its achievements and experience in poverty reduction have been widely recognized by the international community,especially the vast majority of developing countries.This has created the foundation for China to actively carry out poverty reduction diplomacy.The main connotation of China's poverty reduction diplomacy includes:to promote China's international influence is the main purpose based on the concept and experience of poverty reduction in China;to deliver a comprehensive and objective introduction of China's development to the world for the better understanding of China's status as a developing country and the efforts made by Chinese government to reduce poverty and promote development by making full use of the platform for poverty reduction;to strive for a good international landscape to alleviate the pressure caused by so called China threat theory and China's responsibility theory;to spread the concept and culture of poverty reduction in China,promote experience and projects,establish pragmatic cooperation so as to deepen the mutual friendship with cooperating countries,establish a responsible image of China and advance the construction of China's soft power.On the one hand,China's poverty reduction diplomacy has incorporated the concepts of poverty reduction and development with Chinese characteristics that have evolved in the past 30 years.It also has the experience and practice in China as its basis to play and inherit the "traditional core" of Chinese culture such as helping the poor,supporting and helping each other and being generous in charities;On the other hand,guided by the diplomatic strategy of major power with Chinese characteristics,it focuses on poverty reduction that is highly concerned in the international community and effectively draw merits from "elements of the time" such as sustainable development and win-win cooperation.Through the platform of international cooperation,it will give full play to China's advantages and the right to speak in terms of its poverty reduction and development and actively advocate the concept of shared experience,shared development and shared progress in the international community so as to take initiative of the international morality,shape the image of a responsible China,further enhance China's right to speak in the field of international poverty reduction and development and constantly enhance China's international influence.China's poverty reduction diplomacy is mainly implemented through poverty reduction assistance,experience sharing and participation in global poverty governance.Its main characteristics include:it is guided by the concept and has a strong initiative;it combines both soft and rigid methods and highlights the soft methods in particular;it is involved and complemented by all parties.China's poverty reduction diplomacy aims to promote the international community's objective understanding of China,strengthen the soft power as well as the right to speak in the field of poverty reduction and development,enhance the international community's recognition of China's development path and promote the construction of a community of shared future for mankind.According to the needs of the country's overall diplomatic strategy,the strategic layout of China's poverty reduction diplomacy is:for the neighboring countries,we should adhere to the principle of"combining the soft and rigid methods based on the converging interests";for developing countries,we should adhere to "highlighting the people's livelihood and keeping sharing";for multilateral diplomacy,we should adhere to "contributing wisdom and making a difference";for developed countries,we should adhere to"actively exploring and learning".To better implement poverty reduction diplomacy,we must first build its theoretical system,including strengthening the theoretical research on major-country diplomacy with distinctive Chinese features and on the poverty reduction and development in China and the world at large.Second,we must establish the international communication mechanism on China's poverty reduction,integrating the poverty reduction diplomacy with aid diplomacy,public diplomacy,people-to-people diplomacy,party diplomacy,cultural diplomacy and other diplomatic forms.Third,we must improve China's foreign policy and working system for poverty reduction by establishing the relevant mechanism for supporting poverty reduction diplomacy,highlighting the foreign aid featured with poverty reduction,optimizing the knowledge structure of relevant personnel,giving full play to the role of civil society,promoting overseas Chinese enterprises to participate in international exchanges and cooperation on poverty reduction,promoting the leading role of the think tank,etc.Poverty reduction diplomacy introduces the important concept of "poverty reduction"from sociology and development economics to diplomatic research.It is a new concept that involves multiple disciplines such as politics,sociology and development economics,therefore to be rich in its connotation and innovative in both theoretical and practical value.It is the objective changes of diplomatic ways,corresponding with the process of globalization and reflects the natural broadening of diplomatic ways.As the globalization deepens,it will surely draw increasing attention of the international community,constantly enrich the connotation and ways of modern diplomacy with its unique concepts,forms and features,and further promote a country's diplomatic work to a higher level and advance with the times.