Taking the new public diplomacy online: Russia and China

Russia and China have become significant players in terms of their activity within public diplomacy (PD), in a relatively short space of time. This article seeks to address the way these two countries manage the concept and practice of PD in an online communication environment (namely, Websites and social media). Cases will be used to illustrate how this is managed in practice. The case of the South China Seas dispute and the Ukrainian crisis will be used to demonstrate how these difficult issues are managed. There are a number of similarities between the two countries, but also some significant differences. Russia tends to express communication in terms of competing sets of norms and values, whereas the values and ideological concepts are more rigidly defined within the Chinese case.