This dataset provides a look into Beijing’s efforts to cultivate economic, social, and network ties with 13 countries in South and Central Asia (SCA) over two decades. The data is featured in the report Corridors of Power: How Beijing uses economic, social, and network ties to exert influence along the Silk Road, produced by AidData. This dataset allows disaggregation of Chinese and several other countries’ public diplomacy activities into several constituent measures over time and space in 13 South and Central Asian countries at the national and subnational level.
The dataset download includes a ReadMe, a TUFF methodology document, a Geocoding methodology document, and five separate data files: (1) China’s Public Diplomacy in South and Central Asia, Version 2.0, which provides country-year aggregates for each public diplomacy measure; (2) China’s Financial Diplomacy Project Details, which provides a detailed look at the geocoded Chinese Official Finance flows that are used in the main analysis for financial diplomacy; (3) Cultural Centers South and Central Asia, which provides details on linguistic and cultural centers established by China, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; (4) Subnational Data, which contains public diplomacy data for the report formatted for geospatial analysis; and (5) Social media, which contains data from our analysis of China’s presence on social media in South and Central Asia.
Funding: This research was conducted with generous support from the United States Department of State.
