This conference—held jointly by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF); AidData, a research lab at William & Mary; the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); and the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI)—presented the findings from an extensive study on Chinese public diplomacy efforts in the region, Silk Road Diplomacy. Four panel discussions delved deep into the reach and influence of Chinese public diplomacy and the policy implications for countries across the South and Central Asian region.

The full-day event, at the Shangri-La Eros Hotel in New Delhi, included a lunch keynote address by former Foreign Secretary of India, Amb. Shyam Saran.

For more, please see the ORF's website: https://www.orfonline.org/research/chinese-public-diplomacy-in-south-asia-and-central-asia-58540/.

Speakers

Amrita Jash, Research Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies

Bonnie Glaser, Senior Adviser for Asia and Director, China Power Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Dinusha Panditaratne, Non-resident Fellow and Former Executive Director, Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute

Farkhod Tolipov, Director, Bilim Karvoni

Farooq Sobhan, President and CEO, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute

Igor Denisov, Senior Research Fellow, Center for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies, Institute of International Studies Moscow State Institute of International Relations

Lindsey Ford, David M. Rubenstein Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation

Nandan Unnikrishnan, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation

Rakhim Oshakbayev, Director, Center for Applied Research “TALAP”

Samantha Custer, Director of Policy Analysis, AidData, College of William & Mary

Shao Yuqun, Director, Institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau Studies Senior Fellow, Center for America Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies

Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary of India

Siddhartha Ghose, Associate Director, AidData, College of William & Mary

Swarnim Waglé, Former Vice-Chair, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal

Tanvi Madan, Senior Fellow and Director, The India Project, The Brookings Institution

Tanya Sethi, Senior Policy Analyst, AidData, College of William & Mary

Agenda

8:15 a.m. | Registration

8:45 a.m. | Welcome remarks by ORF, AidData, and CSIS

9:00 a.m. | Panel 1: Quantifying the reach and influence of Chinese public diplomacy in South Asia and Central Asia | Samantha Custer, Siddhartha Ghose and Tanya Sethi

10:30 a.m. | Tea/Coffee

10:45 a.m. | Panel 2: Chinese public diplomacy in South Asia | Amrita Jash, Shao Yuqun, Farooq Sobhan, Dinusha Panditaratne and Lindsey Ford (moderator)

12:15 p.m. | Lunch

12:45 p.m. | Lunch keynote | Shyam Saran and Bonnie Glaser (moderator)

1:45 p.m. | Panel 3: Chinese public diplomacy in Central Asia | Rakhim Oshakbayev, Farkhod Tolipov, Igor Denisov and Nandan Unnikrishnan (moderator)

3:15 p.m. | Tea/Coffee

3:30 p.m. | Panel 4: Policy implications | Tanvi Madan, Manoj Joshi, Swarnim Waglé and Samantha Custer (moderator)

5:00 p.m. | Conference ends