Linguistic aspect as a factor of the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China in the 21st century

The analysis of the linguistic aspect of the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China is becoming more relevant today owing to the fact that the impact of "soft power" factors - methods to achieve the desired result without the use of violence - enhances in foreign policy processes. The foreign policy of China is not an exception. One of the main elements of "soft power" is the language policy. The article is devoted to the linguistic aspect of China's foreign policy in modern conditions as an instrument of "soft power." The definition of the concept "soft power", the principal components and instruments of "soft power" in Eastern countries are underlined in the article. New principles and direction of China's diplomacy, pledged at the VIII Congress of the CPC, reflect the fact that "soft power" is used as one of the main tools of China's foreign policy. In addition, a special place is given to the language policy of the country. It is important to note that the language policy was chosen by the Chinese leadership as one of the priorities of foreign policy directions for a number of reasons, which include an increased interest in China after its reaching economic success and the rapid growth in the number of countries which co-operate with China. Moreover, big demand in specialists in the Chinese language is also significant. The attention is focused on the premises of the active implementation of the language policy of the PRC. An important step for the People's Republic of China was the beginning of the policy of "reform and opening" under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. In addition, a decisive role played the standardization of the Chinese language and the foundation of the State Office of the People's Republic of China on the spreading of the Chinese language and traditional culture abroad in 1984. The correlation of the new strategy of the Chinese leadership, "One Belt - one way" and the desire to spread the Chinese language and culture abroad is considered in the article as well. An important place is given to the consideration of the Russian-Chinese cooperation in the area of language, to main projects and activities carried out in this area. The language policy of the People's Republic of China is one of the determining factors of the country's foreign policy in the modern world. This linguistic aspect influences both the domestic and foreign policy of the Chinese leadership. The language policy of the PRC is multidirectional: it includes not only the spread of the Chinese language abroad, but also the desire to preserve the languages of ethnic minorities in the country, protection of cultural and linguistic diversity of China. Today, the international position of the country and its image directly depend on the success of the implementation of China's language policy.

Keywords

Authors

References