The China-Pakistan relationship has traditionally been described through the language of strategic partnership, economic cooperation and connectivity. Yet the most enduring dimension of this relationship may increasingly be found in something that is gaining more attention on both sides. It is about the growing understanding between the peoples of the two countries. Under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), cultural diplomacy is expanding from traditional exchanges into education, language, media, digital communication, tourism, arts and youth engagement. Thus, CPEC is emerging as a corridor of cultures, ideas and people-to-people friendship in addition to being a corridor of infrastructure and economic opportunity.

BRI also stresses people-to-people connectivity in addition to economic and physical connectivity. The cultural, academic, youth, media and educational exchanges have been identified as important bases for public support and mutual understanding in China’s official plans for the project. Similarly, Pakistan and China have also consistently acknowledged cultural and people-to-people exchanges as an integral element of bilateral relations. This cultural dimension has now received another impetus with that of CPEC. People-to-people exchanges have been included in the CPEC framework and it has been stipulated that Chinese and Pakistani culture and heritage should be promoted through various means such as film, drama and theatre.

As CPEC moves into its next phase, it is an opportunity to better incorporate cultural cooperation into economic, technological and educational ties. Language as the basis of knowledge is perhaps the most compelling cultural medium of soft power diplomacy. Who learns a foreign language learns........

© Pakistan Observer