Ukraine’s digital heritage diplomacy in China and Indonesia: Soft power visions in comparative perspective

This article addresses gaps in scholarship on Ukraine’s digital cultural diplomacy in Asia by examining how Ukraine’s Embassies communicate its national identity and heritage in China and Indonesia, major actors in the region and the world. The study asks how the Embassies of Ukraine in China and Indonesia communicate Ukraine’s national identity and cultural heritage through digital diplomacy, and how these communications align with or diverge from the soft power visions of their host countries. The analysis draws on data collected from the Embassies’ digital platform between January and May 2025, encompassing Ukraine’s Cultural Diplomacy Month. Focusing on Ukraine’s digital diplomacy towards China, the findings show that almost half of the Embassy’s heritage communication simultaneously documents Russia’s actions against that heritage, challenging depoliticised local media framing. Focusing on Ukraine’s digital diplomacy towards China, the findings show a strategic communication priority assigned to the narratives of Ukraine’s heritage destruction by Russia, challenging depoliticised local media framing. Bilateral cultural positioning is largely absent, while strong Weibo engagement reflects visibility within, but not influence over, a highly controlled information environment. In the case of Ukraine’s digital diplomacy with Indonesia, by contrast, the Embassy of Ukraine focuses on positive cultural projection, reinforcing an already sympathetic local media framing of Ukraine’s cultural and historic heritage. Selective location-specific digital communication strategies signal bilateral cultural awareness but arguably remain underdeveloped. Comparatively, the two cases show that Ukraine’s heritage digital diplomacy as a soft power and strategic communication tool is shaped by how closely it aligns and resonates with each country’s own vision of what culture does in foreign policy.