Cultural Diplomacy of China: Role and Criticisms of Confucius Institutes

Year 2020, Volume: 2 Issue: 4 (Çin Özel Sayısı), 217 - 245, 21.08.2020

Buket Önal

Abstract

“Culture”, which is an important tool of diplomacy in reaching the foreign policy targets of the countries, has been serving this purpose for centuries. States that see the positive results of cultural diplomacy often use this diplomacy as a foreign policy tool within the framework of state-centered institutional plans and programs. The aim is to promote the culture and spread it outside in order to provide an environment that can carry out foreign policy. The most important tool to achieve this is “Language”. China, gave the task of introducing and teaching his language and culture to the world to Confucius Institutes. These institutes, which have many examples in the world and opened almost everywhere in the world, are at the center of China's cultural diplomacy. The function of the Confucius Institutes is to build a harmonious world that can carry out foreign policy and at the same time help the “peaceful rise”. These institutes opened in partnership with educational institutions in other countries have been criticized both externally and internally since the day they were founded. Despite the external criticism which suggests that these institutes are China's propaganda tool, there are criticisms inside that the Institutes are not able to fulfill this task adequately. In this study, the role of Institutes in cultural diplomacy and criticisms of the institutes will be discussed in detail.

Keywords

China, Confucius Institute, Criticism, Cultural Diplomacy

Çin’in Kültürel Diplomasisi: Konfüçyüs Enstitüleri’nin Rolü ve Eleştiriler

Abstract

Ülkelerin dış politika hedeflerine ulaşmada önemli bir diplomasi aracı olan “kültür” yüzyıllardır bu amaca hizmet etmektedir. Kültürel diplomasinin olumlu sonuçlarını gören devletler, bu diplomasiyi çoğu kez devlet merkezli kurumsal plan ve programlar çerçevesinde bir dış politika aracı olarak kullanmaktadırlar. Hedef, dış politikayı yürütebilecek ortamı sağlamak amacıyla kültürü dışarda tanıtmak ve yayılmasını sağlamaktır. Bunu sağlayacak en önemli araç da “Dil”dir. Çin de dilini ve kültürünü dünyaya tanıtma ve öğretme görevini Konfüçyüs Enstitülerine vermiştir. Kısa bir sürede dünyadaki örneklerini sayıca geçen ve dünyanın hemen hemen her yerinde açılan bu enstitüler, Çin’in kültürel diplomasisinin merkezinde yer almaktadırlar. Konfüçyüs Enstitülerinin işlevi, dış politikayı yürütebilecek uyumlu bir dünya inşa etmek ve aynı zamanda “barışçıl yükseliş”e yardım etmektir. Diğer ülkelerdeki eğitim kurumlarıyla ortaklık çerçevesinde açılan bu enstitüler, kuruldukları günden bugüne hem dışarıdan hem de içeriden eleştiri almaktadır. Bu enstitülerin Çin’in propaganda aracı olduğunu ileri süren dıştaki eleştirilere rağmen içeride de bunun tam aksi olarak Enstitülerin bu görevi yeterince yerine getiremediği yönünde eleştiriler vardır. Bu çalışmada, Enstitülerin kültürel diplomasideki rolü ve enstitülere yapılan eleştiriler ayrıntılı ele alınacaktır.

Keywords

Çin, Eleştiri, Konfüçyüs Enstitüsü, Kültürel Diplomasi

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