Ethiopia’s Cultural Diplomacy To China And Its Contribution To Ethiopia-China Relations From 2010 To 2022

Ethiopiens and China enjoy long standing cordial relation and strategic partnership.The relation date back to the ancient time when Silk Road traders reached the Horn of Africa,and contacted people of the Axum Empire in present-day Ethiopia.The countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1970.The scope and depth of the relationship between Ethiopia and China showed robust growth.Both countries maintained strong cooperation in multiple areas of common interest at bilateral and multilateral level.The historic ties between Ethiopia and China withstood the test of time and elevated to the level of Comprehensive Cooperative Strategic Partnership（CCSP）in 2017 giving a boost to political,diplomatic,economic,and people-to-people ties between the two countries.The Ethiopia-China diplomatic relation celebrated the commemoration of the 50th year anniversary of establishment of formal diplomatic relation in 2020.The strong diplomatic ties between Ethiopia and China showed fast growth for the last three decades.Currently China emerged to become source of investment finance,technical know-how,a trading partner of Choice worldwide,and reliable partner in almost all aspects of external relation for developing countries in the global south.Therefore the attention Ethiopia gave for its relation with China is very high and characterised by intensive effort of promoting economic policies and opportunities for enterprises that can invest their capital in priority sectors,expand bilateral trade and attract visitors.In its promotion effort Ethiopia mostly use cultural diplomacy as a way of communicating.Therefore examining the role and contribution of this aspect of promoting Ethiopia to the growth of relationship between Ethiopia and China has inspired me to attempt to conduct the study.Ethiopia’s effort of promoting its image in China using cultural diplomacy is an integral part of national objective of facilitating a better understanding of opportunities Ethiopia offers in terms of investment,trade,tourism,and people-to-people ties.But like any other communication taking place between people of different cultural backgrounds Cultural diplomacy requires skilled personnel,who have clear direction,coordination and action in addition to the financial and material resources which are equally important.As the matter of reality Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy effort in China faces challenges and constraints in many ways,but it still contributes to the growth of relationship between the countries.In this study,Ethiopian government’s effort to promote image for wider public in China using cultural diplomacy was examined to verify the contribution of this effort to the general growth of relationship between Ethiopia and China.The study is conducted from the perspective of culture policy,foreign policy and through the lines of activities of official diplomatic channels of Ethiopia in China and other state level efforts that Ethiopia conducts in cultural diplomacy in China from 2010 to 2022 in order to serve foreign relation purpose of raising awareness about Ethiopia using culture,cultural heritages and policies of Ethiopian government.This study was conduct using secondary source of information in addition to randomly selected sample of informants who were assigned as Ethiopia’s diplomatic staff to China during the period of study.Their opinion and experiences about Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy effort in China was collected by questioners via e-mail and other mechanisms and used as primary source of information for the study.In general the study contains five chapters.Chapter one introduces the history and fundamentals of the relationship and the changing trend of diplomatic activities,the institutions involved in those activities that are becoming basic in foreign relations between states in the background of the study.It also contains the statement of the problem of the knowledge gap,the significance of the study about who will benefit from the result of the study.In the objective and research question part,an attempt was made to explain the reason why the research is conducted and what major questions it tries to address,and explanation of the scope of the study.Literature review section of the study,definition of the phrase cultural diplomacy dealt with based on scholarly works on the subject.The historical emergence of cultural diplomacy in foreign relations was also reviewed.In short the literature part was put together from source materials such as journals and online resources relevant to the topic of the study.More infancies is given to the conceptual definition and understanding of the word cultural diplomacy and when it was used in states foreign policy in the different courses of history that alter the meaning and the practice of cultural diplomacy itself.The chapter also gives a summary of research approach,research methods like data collection and sampling design and source of data used in the study.The limitation of the study and the organization of the research were also explained in brief.Chapter two focuses on the history of the overall diplomatic relationship between Ethiopia and China.The trend and level of growth this partnership has passed through since it was established in 1970.In addition,the relative comparison of Ethiopia and China relations and the nature and level of cooperation,trust,and understanding both countries built over the course of time was explained in detail.This same chapter also shows the history of cultural diplomacy in relation to the countries during the time period selected for the study（from 2010 to 2022 G.C）including major events and activities that are undertaken by Ethiopia in its cultural diplomacy effort in China.In general,this chapter gives a brief summary of the history,evolution,and current status of the relationship between the two countries.In Chapter three cultural diplomacy practice of Ethiopia was explained from a cultural policy perspective and current practices of promoting the image of the country using cultural diplomacy activities through diplomatic representations in China.Major diplomacy activities that the country implemented in its relationship with China were briefly explained in the Chapter to give a background for understanding the impact of those selected cultural diplomacy activities conducted over the period of the study.These events include Shanghai expo2010,the Yearly celebration of Africa Day,Participation by the Ethiopian diplomatic mission in renowned cultural and tourism events in China,and the 50^thyear anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and China as well as initiative by the Ethiopian diplomatic mission to organize cultural events was considered as an activity to be studied.The reason why specific cultural diplomacy activities were selected was the possibility of getting workable secondary data and information from open sources such as Medias on one hand and the possibility of recalling such remarkable events and activities by respondents questioned to provide information for the study.In chapter four I attempted to analyse both secondary data and primary information to depict how and to what degree the cultural diplomacy activities conducted over the period of time covered in this study have contributed to the growth of the Ethiopia-China relationship based on the opinion of respondents,as well as other data used for the research.For the purpose of this research,the evaluation is limited to Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy efforts in China starting from the year 2010 up to 2022.The researcher attempted to evaluate how the cultural diplomacy effort by Ethiopia in its relation with China has impacted investment attraction from China,and market opportunity for export goods,national image and attracting Chinese tourists to visit Ethiopia and the overall relationship between the two countries.The evaluation of the cultural diplomacy effort of Ethiopia was conducted from a summary of respondent’s opinions,and the secondary information examined.Chapter five is about the finding and recommendations of the study.Two tiers of results were expected according to the research question.The first result was in response to the question of what cultural diplomacy activities Ethiopia implemented in China over the study period,and the second question was if the effort made to conduct these activities positively impacted/played a role and contributed/to the growth of Ethiopia-China relations.In this context,the summary of opinions from the reports and secondary data used for the analysis indicated that during the study period,a number of cultural diplomatic activities were conducted by Ethiopia as a country and diplomatic missions of Ethiopia in China participated in several events to promote Ethiopia using cultural diplomacy.Regarding the impact of the effort,the opinion of respondents as well as a review of secondary data used confirmed that it has a positive contribution.In recommendation,the focus was given to suggestions to reduce challenges indicated in respondents’opinions,improve coordination mechanisms and use all opportunities and support that can help in the implementation of more effective cultural diplomacy.