The Public Diplomacy Division, located under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been advanced to the Office of Public Diplomacy, indicating an elevated importance to the Chinese government. While the staff has increased from a dozen to sixteen or seventeen, the workload has doubled,” said its director, Wei Xin. Its responsibilities include hosting major open house events for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, maintaining the Ministry’s official website and its 204 sub-websites, monitoring online foreign affairs forums, and coordinating public diplomacy at the embassies and consulates. To push the agenda of the Party, China’s diplomatic missions have been aggressively pursuing public diplomacy activities, which include public speeches, op-eds in mainstream newspapers, interviews, forums, and conferences.
Source: Xinhua, May 31, 2010
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