ISSUES OF BUILDING CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY THROUGH THE PRISM OF “SOFT POWER” AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The author notes that the trend of recent years has been to increase the importance of the cultural factor in modern international relations and changes in the system of intercultural interaction in modern conditions of global development. Culture, education, language, cultural and historical traditions - all this is becoming an effective tool for spreading the influence of the state, both at the regional and global levels. Cultural dialogue in a broad sense creates favorable prerequisites for the implementation of various integration projects, which requires new conceptual approaches and effective strategies, the development of which takes place in the context of the policy of “soft power”. Through understanding the theoretical basis of the concept of “soft power” and public diplomacy, the presented article focuses on China’s foreign policy, including the activities of Confucius Institutes, revealing their current development status, their own strengths and challenges in promoting “soft power”, as well as the opportunities and challenges it faces in implementing “One Belt, One Road” Initiative and the dissemination of the Chinese language abroad, in China’s partner countries on the Initiative.