Elizabeth Yen Tzu Liew is a master’s student in Asian international affairs at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and a graduate degree fellow at the East-West Center.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the Pacific Islands Development Program or the East-West Center.
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Sports diplomacy is a form of soft power used to foster people-to-people relations; promote peace; and most importantly, communicate, represent and negotiate to achieve foreign policy goals.1 Nations hosting global or regional sporting events—such as the Olympics, Asian, and Pacific Games—often develop national agendas and expand economic development strategies to align with their foreign policy goals,2 creating enormous political and economic weight. China’s sports diplomacy strategy in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) is characterized by three features: multilateralism; blended diplomacy; and guānxi, the quintessential Chinese people-to-people diplomacy, and the heart of traditional Chinese culture.3 This article uses Papua New Guinea (PNG) as a case study to illustrate indirect and direct effects of China’s sports diplomacy and the possible wider implications of these effects.
Beijing’s diplomatic engagements with PNG takes place on a regional level, echoing the Blue Pacific way—a tapestry woven around elements of a collective identity and the region’s shared geographies, interests, interconnections, and responsibilities.4 The use of blended diplomacy—a combination of subliminal and explicit strategies of stadium and facility construction, immersive training experiences in China with Olympic medalist coaches, sports scholarships, and bilateral technical training exchanges—has become a trademark tool in their diplomacy toolkit. Finally, the multitude of events have opened up new avenues for people-to-people exchanges or citizen diplomacy, deepening Sino-PNG guānxi, as well as Sino-Pacific relations.
An Investment for the Region
In Solomon Islands, Beijing contributed more than $100 million to the Pacific Games 2023,5 more than half the total estimated costs of the entire event. Part of the lavish sports facilities included a seven-part stadium—the Solomon Islands National Stadium (SINS)—China’s largest-scale infrastructure project in the Pacific Island region.6 For recipient countries, stadiums represent more than just a sports complex.7 Chinese-built stadiums in PICs have come to represent a form of multilateral diplomacy where the mutual benefits extend from the host nation to an extended demographic of the Pacific Ocean. Regional events hosted in these shining new stadiums like SINS are attended, viewed, and experienced by athletes, coaches, sports associations, and communities across the Pacific Islands. In the closing remarks of the Pacific Games 2023, the Pacific Games Council President Vidhya Lakhan reiterated that one of the objectives of the Games was for Pacific Islanders to “meet, create bonds of kinship, friendship and brotherhood among the people of the Pacific” and that these regional events “not only united and strengthened the bond between people of Solomon Islands, but also the people of the Pacific.”8 Beyond stirring national pride in the nation’s ability to host a regional game of this scale for the first time since its independence,9 these colossal-sized stadiums have also become a stamp of regional pride.
Scholarships and Exchanges: Pathways to guanxi
The Butuka Academy, a “PNG-China Friendship school” in Port Moresby was launched in 2018 and China’s first Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project in PNG.10 The construction of a multi-tier compound catering to 3,000 students from kindergarten to secondary level students included the establishment of the China Table Tennis College (CTTC) Training Centre in PNG. Beyond being a training spot and hosting training camps to sharpen technical table tennis skills,11 the Centre has coordinated short-term sports scholarships for PNG’s national squad to train with former Olympic ping pong champions at the Shanghai University of Sports (SUS). Such programs have not only resulted in an exponential ranking leap from 600th to 160th for national player Geoffrey Loi, but also PNG’s two silver medals at the 2019 Pacific Games—their best achievement ever and a milestone for the nation.12 These co-sponsored scholarships require exhaustive communication and collaboration across various entities, namely the China Table Tennis Federation (CTTF), CCTC Training Centre in PNG, the Chinese Ministry of Sports, and SUS. Thus, the establishment of the CCTC has inadvertently become a new platform for bilateral communication between associations, officers, coaches, and athletes. Endorsed by both the Chinese and PNG governments, these sports exchanges have essentially become a strategic long-term bilateral engagement bolstering diplomatic relations and enabling people-to-people exchanges. Evidently, these governments have found and utilized sports to play a significant role in public diplomacy efforts.13 In addition, support for the CTTC Training Centre has also poured in from the Chinese business community,14 further amplifying the role of the Chinese diaspora in Chinese foreign policy.
Bolstering Multilateralism Amidst Muddied Political Entanglements
Kung Fu has also become another vehicle for Beijing to drive multilateralism. The Kung Fu Wushu Association of Papua New Guinea (KFWA PNG) organizes development programs—from technical Kung Fu skills, non-technical administrative courses, and training for judges to special courses to level up athletes in preparation for representation at international championships. These activities are jointly sponsored and supported by the Oceania Kung Fu Wushu Federation (OKWF) and the Chinese Wushu Association (CWA), who receive funding at the global level from the International Wushu Federation (IWF).15 Collaborating with regional associations creates new platforms of people-to-people communication where officers, athletes, coaches, financial departments, and schools engage with China regionally to discuss logistics with regional host associations. Inadvertently, this amplification of citizen diplomacy further advances Sino guānxi with PNG and regional entities, turning sports into a multilateral affair.
Conclusion
Historically, China has always struggled to influence public opinion, therefore its strategy sits on building understanding and respect for Chinese culture rather than outwardly seeking support for its agendas.16 Whether through buildings, roads, schools, or bridges, locals in PNG feel a growing presence of China through infrastructure. And thus, Beijing’s grand projections of power become tangible forms that can be seen and experienced, nationally and regionally. Multilateralism has always been a core part of Beijing’s foreign policy identity,17 and it continues to leverage regionalism to echo the Blue Pacific. Wooing PNG and the PICs via regional entities has had two visible impacts: increased and snowballed exposure to China and Chinese culture across the PICs; and the positioning of Beijing as a US alternative, amidst an increasingly multipolar world. As PICs advance a united front and emphasize that binary political ideologies are no longer a political agenda, they seek an “alternative path for development that can secure a better future for the people of our region”.18 Chinese sports diplomacy in PNG has created new avenues for communication, and bred citizen diplomacy, on a bilateral and regional level. Athletes who train in China become young cultural ambassadors who express curiosity and a deep yearning to learn more about Chinese language, culture, values, lifestyle, and the philosophy and ethos behind some of the sports such as Kung Fu, marveling at unique aspects of Chinese cultural tapestry.
Beyond flexing economic muscles and wielding political clout, the rippling effects of Beijing’s sports diplomacy demonstrates how sports have become one of Beijing’s more reliable instruments of foreign policy to achieve diplomatic, economic, and political goals in PNG and the Pacific Islands, and will continue to become a tool in Beijing’s diplomatic toolkit.
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