“This study examines the growing role of soft power in Türkiye–China relations by analysing how media, culture, sports, and academic exchanges function as instruments of public diplomacy beyond traditional economic and security-based interactions. Drawing on Joseph Nye’s conceptualisation of soft power, the article explores how both countries seek to shape foreign public opinion through cultural visibility, digital media strategies, people-to-people exchanges, and institutional outreach. The paper demonstrates that China has developed a systematic, multi-layered public diplomacy architecture in Türkiye through state-supported media, cultural institutes, social-media diplomacy, and humanitarian engagement, while Türkiye’s outreach in China remains more fragmented and constrained by structural, regulatory, and institutional limitations.”
Ahmet Faruk Işik (ChinaMed Project, T.wai) is author of the article “Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in Türkiye–China Relations” for the Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.
