Nuances of Public Diplomacy: China in Chilean Op-Eds (2018 – 2021)
Authors: Labarca, C., Montt Strabucchi, M., & Bachmann, I. (2023)
This paper explores editorials and opinion columns published in four Chilean mainstream newspapers and analyzes how China is represented within the context of Chinese economic advances in the region and the contextual narratives surrounding bilateral relations. Through a content analysis of editorials and opinion pieces of elite media between 2018 and 2021, this study allows an understanding of how China and its growing influence are perceived locally. Ultimately, despite an overall alignment with China’s public diplomacy centered around an economic-commercial dimension, there are still nuances in how China is represented in Chilean op-eds.
Link: http://doi.org/10.15581/00
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China representations among Chilean graduate business students (2018 - 2022).
Authors: Labarca, C., & Montt Strabucchi, M. (2023)
This article explores how China is represented in Chile through a case study: 71 students with a postgraduate degree in business, between 2018 and 2022. Based on an adaptation of the DAST methodology, participants were asked to draw China, without further instructions, which allowed identifying the main representations about that country of Chilean students of a postgraduate degree in business. The results show that students represent China from traditional historical dimensions. Despite the growing and broader economic exchange between the two countries, essentialist ideas of China as other, formulated from a market dimension, prevail.
Link: https://doi.org/10.17141/urvio.36.2023.5931
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Dynamics of (in)visibility of "Chilean-Asian" people. An analysis of influencer accounts on Instagram
Authors: Chan, C., & Montt Strabucchi, M. (2023)
Globally, several social movements emerged in response to the rise of xenophobia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the specific case of Chile, it was possible to identify the emergence of a Chilean-Asian community on social networks, within the framework of the #StopAsianHate movement. This article addresses the emergence of this community based on the analysis of ten Instagram accounts of Chilean-Asian individuals and informed by previous research on "the Chinese" in Chile, to examine its challenges in contrast to other racialized groups in the country. It is proposed that the configuration of Chilean people who also identify as Chinese, Korean, or Asian can be interpreted as more diverse and inclusive redefinitions of Chilean society.
Link: https://doi.org/10.34096/cas.i57.11391
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What lies behind the people? An approach to the 2019 mobilizations in Hong Kong and Chile through sociological discourse analysis
Authors: Osorio Solano, S.A. and Serrano-Moreno, J.E. (2023)
This study analyzes how the notion of the people emerged in two (neo)liberal societies during the crisis in 2019: Hong Kong and Chile.
Link: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AEDS-01-2023-0003/full/html
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Shaping the liberal international order from the inside: A natural experiment on China’s influence in the UN human rights council
Authors: Pauselli, G., Urdínez, F., & Merke, F. (2023)
Scholars have long discussed whether the rise of China poses a threat to the Liberal International Order. However, there are methodological challenges to studying the effect of a rising power on established norms. In particular, the participation of rising powers in the established order is not exogenously determined. To make an empirical contribution to this debate, we focus on Beijing’s influence as a member of the Human Rights Council. We exploit the fact that China’s membership in the Council is determined by an exogenous membership rule and implement a matching technique to test whether China has influenced the voting patterns of the other member states on identical recurring resolutions. We find that China’s presence in the Council systematically alters the voting behavior of other states in favor of China’s interest, and that this change is larger when it comes to the enforcement of human rights through international criticism. To delve into the mechanisms underlying these findings, we conduct in-depth interviews with experienced diplomats at the UN Human Rights Council.
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20531680231193513
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The Growing Chinese Economic Presence in Chile: Opinions Among the Chilean Elite
Authors: Borquez, A., Muñoz, F., & Leiva, D. (2023)
Due to its economic and political implications, the growth of Chinese investment in Chile has generated wide interest among domestic elites. Despite being Chile’s main trading partner, until 2016 direct Chinese investment in the country had been almost non-existent. Its growth since then raises questions about how Chileans perceive China. This paper seeks to examine how Chilean elites characterize and evaluate the increasing presence in the country of Chinese capital. It argues that different categories of local elites (economic, political and academic) have opposing views on the matter. To test this hypothesis, a qualitative study of elite opinion was conducted in which the characteristics and the explanatory depth of elites’ perception of China were analyzed. Overall, it is apparent that the Chilean elite has a positive perception of China. It seems that a consensus has emerged amongst stakeholders that the Asian nation represents a good opportunity for the Chilean economy. However, when the analysis focuses on different categories of domestic elites, nuances are observed and there is an evident lack of unanimity regarding the Chinese presence in the country. The results suggest that domestic stakeholders blame each other for the absence of a strategy towards a nation that is increasingly relevant in domestic politics.
Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/48740209
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Chilean-Chinese Relations
Author: María Montt Strabucchi (2023)
China’s growth as a global power in the 21st century offers an opportunity to reexamine its historical relationship with Latin America. An analysis of the connections between China and Chile provide for a better understanding of the formation of the migration, diplomacy, cultural-influence, war, and labor-force networks. Asian-Latin American exchanges and hence Chilean-Chinese relations can be traced back to the Manila Galleon. The first Chinese people arrived in Chile in the 1850s as part of the coolie trade (slavery was forbidden by the Chilean constitution) after Gideon Nye Jr. was named Chilean honorary consul in Guangzhou (Cantón) in 1845. After the war between Peru and Chile (1879–1884) a large number of Chinese working on Peruvian plantations joined the Chilean army as an alternative to the onerous labor conditions imposed upon them. Because of the saltpeter boom and the consequences of the world crisis of 1929, the first decades of the 20th century saw the settlement of many Cantonese workers in Northern Chile.
In 1915, Chile inaugurated diplomatic relations with the newly established Republic of China. These relations were maintained until 1970; that year, Chile opened formal diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the PRC developed a cultural-diplomacy policy, and many Chileans visited the Asian country. In 1952, the Chile-China Cultural Association (Instituto Chileno Chino de Cultura) was established in Santiago, Chile. With the arrival of Salvador Allende to power in 1970, formal diplomatic relations were established, a demand of the Chilean Left. Chilean-Chinese relations have continued uninterrupted to date, completing fifty years of diplomatic ties in 2020. While there is undoubtedly room for improvement in mutual knowledge, which would also help in removing historical prejudices, the early 21st century has seen the Chinese community in Chile grow along with the intensification of exchanges between both countries.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.1041
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Undermining U.S. reputation: Chinese vaccines and aid and the alternative provision of public goods during COVID-19
Author: Francisco Urdinez (2023)
Global health emergencies present opportunities for countries to enhance their soft power by demonstrating generosity and technological capabilities. Although China’s initial association with the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak had a detrimental impact on its international reputation, the country endeavored to rebuild it by visibly distributing vaccines and medical supplies. By countering U.S. vaccine nationalism, China positioned itself as an alternative provider of public goods in the Global South. The COVID-19 crisis provides a unique opportunity to examine how aid translates into reputation, particularly when donors are facing reputational damage. This article assesses the impact of alternative goods provision on China’s reputation using original individual-level panel data collected from six Latin American countries between 2020 and 2021, employing a difference-in-differences research design. By positing the existence of absolute and relative reputational effects, we observe that Chinese vaccines improve public opinion of China and elevate its reputation in comparison to the United States. These findings are substantiated through a survey experiment, which demonstrates that when individuals receive information about China’s provision of medical supplies, it enhances China’s reputation relative to the United States.