China's Framing Strategy in Constructing the Socio-Cultural Pillar of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC)

This dissertation explores China's strategic engagement through the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), focusing on the construction and effectiveness of the LMC's Third Pillar, Social, Cultural, and People-to-People Exchanges, in fostering an LMC identity. In short, this China-led institutional arrangement aims to build regionalism and regionalization among the riparian countries. This dissertation uses a constructivist framing theory and qualitative research methods to conduct the research. This research discusses the design and implementation of the third-pillar construction. Furthermore, LMC's cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation are adopted as the case analysis to illustrate China's framing strategies in the third-pillar construction. As a result, this dissertation identified the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the LMC's Third Pillar and its relevant framing strategies in cultivating the collective identity. In conclusion, this dissertation has raised some policy recommendations for improving third-pillar construction in the future.