‍Central Asia and The Caucasus Journal

Abstract China's growing need for global energy resources has made this country pay special attention to the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and the world's largest energy producers. In this regard, the representation of a positive image of Beijing in the eyes of rulers and Arab societies is one of the requirements for the expansion of political, economic, and social relations. This issue can strengthen Beijing's influence and position in the Middle East. On the other hand, Arab politicians, to maintain their legitimacy and present a positive image of Arab countries as developing advanced, and prosperous nations, need to attract large investments from powerful countries such as China in the field of digital infrastructures and social media platforms. This research aims to answer the question of what effect China's digital diplomacy towards Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has had on the development process of this country's relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and whether this diplomacy has improved the relations between these two countries with China or not. The results of this study suggest that with the beginning of China's focus on the need to enter the Middle East to take advantage of investment opportunities and huge resources, and China's understanding of this to present a positive and peaceful image of itself by using digital diplomacy to expand its influence in this region, China's relations with the mentioned countries have expanded significantly. These relations have been progressing despite the stonewalling of the West and the United States. This is largely due to China's digital diplomacy. The present paper is a descriptive analysis using the documentary and library resources. .

Abstract Public diplomacy has always been an important tool in the foreign policy of the Russian Federation, before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. From the beginning of its establishment in the 1920s, and with the aim of interacting and influencing the peoples of other countries, the Socialist Soviet Union pursued public diplomacy in parallel with official diplomacy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation sought to reform and create new structures to revive its public diplomacy. Considering the fact that New Russia's strategies in public diplomacy and digital diplomacy are more broader and diverse than the Soviet era’s, the authors examine the question of what are the prominent features of the Soviet Union and the new Russia’s public diplomacy. The present article hypothesizes that Soviet public diplomacy was largely world-centered and ideological, while the approach of modern Russia has been more cultural and Russian-oriented. From the 1917 to 1990, the Soviet Union was a major player in the application of public diplomacy in the world arena, especially in the nations under its political axis. But after its collapse, Russia's main focus has been on its cultural-historical geography to advance public diplomacy and digital diplomacy. This article tries to analyze the question of the article in the framework of theoretical discourse of public diplomacy by using descriptive-analytical method.