Countering negative sentiments: China’s growing engagements in Laos’ higher education landscape

Abstract

This article explores the recent intensification of China’s investments in Laos’ educational sector and argues its relevance to the ongoing economic partnership between the two countries. Situated under the public diplomacy framework, this study argues that China’s recent approaches are a natural extension of existing economic cooperation and counters the emerging negative sentiments associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It looks into how China establishes communal-level ties by constructing Confucius Institutes (CI) to provide greater possibilities for the Lao youth to be employed by enhancing their working-ready skills and facilitating a growing need to develop Mandarin Language proficiencies to increase chances of attaining high-paying employment.

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