• Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy: China’s evolving diplomatic practices, foreign policy tools, and engagement strategies, operating through both formal and informal channels.
• Sino-Indian Relations: Strategic, political, and economic dynamics shaping India–China interactions, including the use of formal diplomacy and informal mechanisms to manage competition and cooperation.
• Chinese Influence Activities: China’s political, informational, cultural, and institutional influence efforts, examined across formal platforms such as state institutions and official exchanges, and informal channels such as networks, proxies, and societal actors.
• Chinese Strategic Narratives: The construction, transmission, and impact of China’s strategic narratives, including how these narratives circulate through formal policy communication and informal narrative ecosystems.

China’s Public Diplomacy in the Xi Era: The Case of India

This study examines how China uses media and messaging to build its image and influence public opinion in India, focusing on recent efforts under Xi Jinping. It seeks to understand how Chinese leaders and media engage with Indian audiences at the national and regional levels and evaluates how successful these efforts are in advancing China's strategic objectives. The project contributes to public diplomacy scholarship by analyzing how authoritarian states adapt their media strategies to influence public opinion in large democratic societies. 

With Xi's focus on "telling China's story well," the study explores the complex ties between China and India, who cooperate in geopolitical alliances like BRICS and the AIIB, but also face significant tensions over the ongoing militarized border conflict and competing visions for the Indo-Pacific region. In this democratic setting, China's influence strategy is unique, especially as it aims to shape opinions in India, which has a very different social, linguistic and political system. 

The research will draw on three main sources: (1) Chinese-authored content appearing in Indian media, (2) interviews with experts, journalists, and diplomats, and (3) social media posts from Chinese diplomatic channels targeting Indian audiences. By employing a blend of analytical approaches, the study aims to provide a comprehensive view of how China's influence efforts are received and adapted locally. 

Besides addressing a research gap, this research offers practical insights for diplomats and policymakers. It will contribute to discussions on international relations, diplomacy, and how different political systems endeavour to shape opinion across borders. 

September 2019 – October 2020: Master Degree in Applied Linguistics at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

September 2017: Johns Hopkins University – Nanjing Center: Postgrad Diploma in International Relations, with a focus on Sino-American Relations. 

July 2014 – May 2016: Master Degree in Chinese language literature and culture

Shubham Karmakar: Analyzing Legitimation Strategies: BRI in Covid-19 Crisis Narratives, in: Narratives in East Asia and Beyond, Germany, S. 117–142 (2023).

Shubham Karmakar: Investigating Chinese-English Translation Strategies: a Corpus based Analysis, in: Understanding China in 21st Century, Language, Culture, Society and Foreign Affairs 2, S. 183–203 (2021).

Shubham Karmakar: A Case Study of Developing pragmatic competence of Chinese (as a foreign language) learners with Call in a multilingual classroom, in: Studi Sul plurilinguismo Tematiche, problemi, prospecttive, Associazine LAUREATE/I in Lingue, University of Udine, Italy, S. 141–158 (2021).

Shubham Karmakar: Language Learners through a Prism of Linguistic Theories, in: Understanding China in 21st Century, Language, Culture, Society and Foreign Affairs, S. 90–112 (2020).

Shubham Karmakar: Eco-linguistics: the integrity and diversity of language systems, in: Jadavpur Journal of Languages and Linguistics 4, S. 58–69 (2020).

Shubham Karmakar: New Trends and Issues on Fostering Collocation Competence of Chinese Language Learners: Innovation on Pedagogy, Methods and Analysis, in: Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education (JASRAE), 16 (17), S. 6–12 (2019).

Shubham Karmakar: An Analysis of Chinese Perspectives on Indian “Look East Policy”, in: Revisiting India-East Asia Connections: Problems and Prospects, S. 118–138 (2019).

Shubham Karmakar: Digi-Learning for Mandarin Students, in: The First India– Taiwan Bilateral Forum on Mandarin Chinese Course Materials for Indian Learners (2017).