ABSTRACT
The first several chapters illustrated the background of this book. This chapter explores the public diplomacy narratives of the BRI in order to answer sub-RQ 1. The far-reaching global implications of the BRI were discussed in Chapter 1; however, the domestic significance of the BRI to China has not been analysed in this book yet. This chapter firstly illustrates the domestic significance of the BRI in China and then highlights the issue of defining what the BRI is and selection of Chinese official media articles. In conclusion, this chapter identifies that there are at least five competing narratives in the public diplomacy narratives of the BRI. To evaluate the validity of these narratives, interviews with key Australian commentators are conducted and an investigation of the implementation of the BRI is performed.
