Committee
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 14 December 2023
14 Dec 2023 · S6 · Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Item of business
National Outcomes
Catriona Radcliffe
Watch on SPTV
Soft power plays a massive part in our work here in China. We focus that work across three pillars: climate and biodiversity; what we call our people-to-people link, which covers education, culture, tourism and social policy; and trade and investment. Soft power cuts across all three pillars. To give an added dimension to what Chris Thomson and Katrine Feldinger talked about, I will talk about the value of using tools such as social media to reach a wider audience here. To take China, with its population of 1.425 billion, how do we even begin to engage and deliver through our people-to-people links with such a vast country? One of the best tools that we have for doing that is our official social media channels. We have three channels that we use here in China. One is Weibo, which is the equivalent of Twitter back home. Another is WeChat, which we use for slightly longer articles. The third is something called Little Red Book, which is a bit like Instagram. This is just a drop in the ocean compared with the size of the population of China, but we have 250,000 followers on our official Weibo account. We have 13,000 followers on WeChat, and we have 11,000 followers for the Little Red Book channel that we have just opened. Whatever we do, we can multiply the audience by posting on those channels and sharing what we do. A recent example is the visit to China by the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Mr Robertson, from 23 to 28 November on a six-day visit across three cities. It was the first Scottish Government ministerial visit to China since 2019 and after the pandemic. It was really important for us to use that visit to maximum benefit and to reach as many people as possible. We posted on our social media channels every day at the end of each visit to update people on what the cabinet secretary had done, what he had said and who he had met, and to share Scottish Government values in relation to what we do here. The cabinet secretary did a video blog to round up everything that he did over the six days. That vlog alone received more than 220,000 views. That is just a wee example of a different type of soft power, but it is really powerful for how we engage here in China.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Our next agenda item is to take evidence on the committee’s inquiry into the Scottish Government’s national outcomes and indicators relating to international...
Catriona Radcliffe (Scottish Government)
Hello. My name is pronounced “Catrina”, without the “o” sound. Thank you for inviting me and my colleagues in Washington and Copenhagen to this morning’s ev...
Katrine Feldinger (Scottish Government)
It is good to see that the technology is working—happy days. To add to what Catriona Radcliffe just said, the main purpose of all diplomatic and intelligenc...
Christopher Thomson (Scottish Government)
I echo what Catriona Radcliffe and Katrine Feldinger have said. We do a huge amount of work to ensure that we hold ourselves to account regarding what we do ...
The Convener
SNP
I have asked the broadcasting staff to turn the sound up. We can hear you, but we are straining a little. They have turned it up now.
Christopher Thomson
I am also trying not to speak so loudly that I wake up my wife, because it is 5.30 in the morning here in DC.
The Convener
SNP
You have my sympathies and apologies.
Christopher Thomson
Worse things have happened. We know the outcomes that we are trying to contribute to. We want to be globally competitive, entrepreneurial and have a sustain...
The Convener
SNP
I have another question about the national indicators. Some of them, including the indicators for reputation and for international exporting, apply to Scotla...
Christopher Thomson
I could not agree more with our Irish counterparts that soft power plays a big part. I work in collaboration with Scottish Development International, our int...
Katrine Feldinger
In addition to our use of soft power through conversation openers—of which, as Chris stated, we do quite a lot—we have an incredible brand to work with. It h...
Catriona Radcliffe
Soft power plays a massive part in our work here in China. We focus that work across three pillars: climate and biodiversity; what we call our people-to-peop...
The Convener
SNP
Were those 220,000 views from within China or globally?
Catriona Radcliffe
They were within China.
The Convener
SNP
Thank you. We will move to questions from the committee, starting with Kate Forbes.
Kate Forbes
SNP
I am delighted that you could join us, particularly at the unearthly hour of 5 am. Each of you will be working towards the Scottish Government’s overall obj...
The Convener
SNP
Does Kat from the Copenhagen office want to respond? I am getting confused with the Katrines and Catrionas.
Katrine Feldinger
You can stick with calling me Kat, if you like, and Catriona Radcliffe can be Catriona for today. That is absolutely fine. It is nice to see you again, Ms ...
Kate Forbes
SNP
Indeed.
Katrine Feldinger
The short answer is that, any time we take on what is essentially a start-up within Government territory, the first set of objectives is about getting it rig...
Catriona Radcliffe
This is a really nice question to get and to be able to answer, so thank you for asking it, Ms Forbes. On short-term goals, I started in my role in July 20...
Christopher Thomson
I hope that you can hear me. We have six in-year objectives in the US office. Some of them, such as enhancing reputation, are not entirely measurable, as we ...
Kate Forbes
SNP
Obviously, I would not ask you to comment on political matters, but it is really interesting how Scotland maximises the brand that Kat talked about. In a sen...
Christopher Thomson
Culture and diaspora are hugely important for us. Ensuring that awareness of Scotland is important. Our brand across the world is “Scotland is now”. A lot of...
Catriona Radcliffe
On higher education and supporting the links in higher education, members should consider that 25 per cent of all international students at higher education ...
Katrine Feldinger
In a sense, you are getting three of the big priorities for all of the offices here: diaspora, higher education and—I will add the third one—energy. Our focu...
Kate Forbes
SNP
That is great. I am grateful for those answers.
Donald Cameron
Con
Good morning everyone, and thank you for being with us today. I have a short question for Christopher Thomson on something that he just said about culture an...
Christopher Thomson
There is a huge amount of potential for Scotland, particularly in the US, where—this touches on what Catriona Radcliffe said—there are a lot of Scottish univ...
Donald Cameron
Con
That is an interesting answer. This is just my personal view, but I think that there is a lot to be done and that is an area in which the international offic...