PubDiplo

PubDiplo (Transforming France-China Public Diplomacy and Reputation Management in the Digital Era: Policy Shifts, Communication Strategies, and Impact Exploration, ANR-25-CE41-4061 / RGC-A-HKBU203/25) is a Franco-Hong Kong four-year collaborative project led jointly by the DICEN laboratory in France and the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University.

The project aims to examine how France and China, as major powers in Western Europe and East Asia, develop and transform their public and cultural diplomacy in the digital era. Despite long-standing mutual influence, comparative research on their contemporary communication strategies remains limited due to structural differences in political systems, media environments, and cultural contexts.

Focusing on digital public diplomacy, the project analyzes how both countries mobilize platforms, data, and emerging technologies to shape national image, manage reputation, and engage international publics in a context of growing geopolitical and technological competition. Combining computational methods, including large language models and network analysis, with qualitative approaches, the project identifies both divergences and shared strategic logics across democratic and authoritarian settings. Its findings will inform academic research, policy-making, and professional practices in global communication.