ABSTRACT
This chapter explores various facts about Chinese public diplomacy towards Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) at the political, economic and cognitive levels. Chinese scholars consider that public diplomacy toward CEE may be the stepping stone for Chinese public diplomacy to the wider Europe. Politically, Chinese public diplomacy aims to make the CEECs understand China's policies, practices and domestic concerns. China has developed multilateral exchanges with CEECs in a number of international and regional parliamentary organizations, such as the Chinese Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the ASEP Meeting. As to the cognitive level, Chinese public diplomacy to the CEECs focuses on projecting the soft power of Chinese culture, to reduce Europeans' negative perceptions of China and to enhance their understanding of Chinese values. There are three elements to this cultural diplomacy. The first is increasing cultural exchanges. The second element is promoting the study of China abroad. And, the third element is cultural and inter-city diplomacy.
