The Role And Limitation Of Confucius Institutes In US Public Diplomacy

With the development of scientific technology, communication of all kinds becomes more and more convenient at such an age of globalization. The general public has been playing an increasingly important role in diplomacy. And they are also having growing interest in becoming a part of it. That’s why the public diplomacy has become an indispensable part of a nation’s diplomacy as a whole.Confucius Institute, an organization now covering96countries and regions in the world, is a major brand of China’s public diplomacy. It has made positive contribution to promoting the Chinese language in the world. However, it’s not a time yet to celebrate or to be overjoyed.The purpose of developing public diplomacy is to improve the attitude of the foreign general public towards the home country. But there are a lot of dimensions of the general public. In addition, there is a long way to go for the foreign general public from knowing about to recognizing the Chinese culture, and to further helping make the diplomatic policies of that country positive towards China.Therefore, if we want to evaluate the effect of Confucius Institute, we have to look at it from both the direct and indirect audience members, and from the three dimensions of the general public, mass media and opinion leaders. That is to say, we not only have to see the fact that Confucius Institute has accelerated the promotion of the Chinese culture among average foreign residents and inter-personal communication, but also have to see what effect it has created and what reaction it has received among mass media and opinion leaders in foreign countries. Mass media and opinion leaders play a big role in terms of affecting the making of a country’s diplomatic policies, which will further affect the attitude of the general public. That’s why their reaction is more helpful for us to evaluate the effect of setting up Confucius Institute. The paper will review the direct and indirect effect of Confucius Institute and look at its function and drawbacks in the public diplomacy between China and the United States. The paper tries to reach a conclusion of how all these points will enlighten China’s public diplomacy cause.