The New Public Diplomacy

Public diplomacy is a new type of diplomacy, sponsored by the government, intended to inform or influence public opinions in other countries through the information transmission or cultural exchanges overseas etc. Since the foundation of PRC, China's public diplomacy can be divided into three phases according to the goals---legitimacy-oriented phase, cooperation-oriented phase and the harmony-oriented phase. As different phases have different time background and goals, channels and features of each phase are different accordingly.From the track of China's public diplomacy, we can see that positive changes have taken place in the channels, goals and target countries as the decision-makers'perceptions towards public diplomacy twisted. To specific, the attitude to public diplomacy has changed from treating negatively to exploiting actively; the ways from one-way propaganda to two-way communication, the goals from short-term to long-run; the targeted countries have become extensive. The most important reason for such changes is the needs of the development. Since the foundation, the politics, economics and culture have developed drastically. As to this, flexible public diplomacy is in great need. This is the basic reason. Meanwhile, the high enthusiasms of involving in politics with the globalization and the emphasis of the soft-power have also provided conditions for the development of public diplomacy.However, as far as China's current public diplomacy is concerned, there are still some problems that will influence the development of public diplomacy, such as the lag between perception and act, the multi-section participation model etc. In the following days, they will still play the role and the effect of China public diplomacy will be influenced.Only clearly understand the current situation and existing problems in China's public diplomacy, can we progress in the future. As to these, in order to construct a cooperative, friendly and responsible image, China still has a long way to go on the basis of keeping the positive developing trend.