Analysis of Japan’s Public Diplomacy toward China ()
ABSTRACT
In March 2011, a major nuclear accident occurred at
the Fukushima nuclear power plant due to the
Great East Japan Earthquake. Afterwards, nuclear contamination around
Fukushima Prefecture had a significant
negative impact on the reputation of Japan in China. As a response to these
adverse impacts on reputation, Japanese
governments and relevant institutions performed a series of public diplomacy measures to China aimed at improving the images impaired by
harmful rumors. This article examined Japan’s public diplomacy measures toward
China during this incident, using the pathways of connections as the framework
for study and analyzing three representative Japanese governmental bodies that played critical roles in the public diplomacy process, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic,
Trade and Industry and Fukushima Prefecture Government. This article found that the Japanese government mainly
pursued its public diplomacy in China by amplifying the appeal of
Fukushima, promoting a target-driven “direct influence” to cultivate
partners in China, organizing a multi-sectoral
public diplomacy model, re-framing the issue of the Fukushima nuclear
accident with intentional reticence and using diversified media promotion
channels. Consequently, this article concludes that the effectiveness of
Japan’s diplomacy toward China was negatively affected by the lack of a political solution, the weak connectivity between the negative
impression and attractiveness, the long-standing bias of Chinese public opinion
against negative information about Japan and the inconsistency between internal
and external actions in the response to adverse impact on reputation in
Fukushima nuclear accident.
Share and Cite:
Guan, H. and Huang, Y. (2023) Analysis of Japan’s Public Diplomacy toward China.
Open Journal of Political Science,
13, 414-437. doi:
10.4236/ojps.2023.134025.
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