The soft power of China is the indirect and non-military influence of the People's Republic of China that can be observed outside the country around the world. [1] While soft power as a concept can be summarized as "get others to do your bidding" without resorting to hard power, it has been argued that the Chinese government uses a different approach (especially in developed countries) to "get others to stop harming your image" which is more in line with its domestic policies. [2]
China ranked 2nd out of 20 nations in the Elcano Global Presence Report for 2018 by the Elcano Royal Institute. The report noted that China's Reputation ranking (24th) was considerably lower than its Influence ranking (2nd). [3]
According to the 2019 Asia Power Index, China takes the lead in diplomatic influence and ranks 2nd out of 25 countries in cultural influence after the US. [4] [5]
China's ranked 27th out of 30 nations in the Soft Power 30 index for 2018 and 2019 published by Portland Communications and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. According to the index, China is a "cultural juggernaut", being ranked 8th in the Culture category and 10th in the Engagement category. [6]
China is ranked 3rd out of 193 nations in the Global Soft Power Index 2024 published by Brand Finance, a brand evaluation consultancy. Its rise faster than any other nation brand in the Index. [7]
China's traditional culture has been a source of attraction, building on which it has created several hundred Confucius Institutes around the world to teach its language and culture. The enrollment of foreign students in China has increased from 36,000 a decade ago to at least 240,000 in 2010. [8] China is the most popular country in Asia for international students, [9] the leading destination globally for Anglophone African students, [10] and the second most popular education power house in the world. [11] China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has attracted many western countries to join. [12] Increasing political pressure and scrutiny around the Confucius Institutes have led to some closures. [13]
China has the largest diplomatic network in the world, overtaking the US in 2019. [14]
A spring 2014 Global Attitudes survey from Pew Research Center states China receives mostly positive reviews in the sub-Saharan African nations polled, although South Africans are closely divided (45% favorable, 40% unfavorable). [15] China's increasing soft power can be explained by looking at China's economic growth and regarding economic engagement with many African countries. China's expansion of trade and investment on the African continent and the spread of Chinese-led infrastructure projects gives positive impressions of China to people in Africa[ citation needed ]. China's economic engagement in African countries is considered to be much more pragmatic and in consistency with the priorities of many African countries. Moreover, China's increasing role as a global superpower seems appealing and this drives a desire to tie African economies more closely to China's economy.
Through the use of GONGOs (otherwise known as a Government-organized non-governmental organization), China exerts soft power through foreign aid and development in Africa. China has made a systematic effort to expand and give a greater profile to its soft-power policies in Africa ever since the first Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2000. The commitments of China's soft power ranges from health, humanitarian assistance to academic, professional and cultural exchange.
Cultural exchange between China and Africa can be a representative example of how China has been spreading its soft power. In 2005, the first Confucius Institute was established in Africa. The institute is funded by the Chinese government and it provides Chinese language and cultural programming to the public. There are 19 institutes today in Africa and China has planned to spend 20 million RMB for education projects in South Africa, including the teaching of Mandarin in 50 local high schools.
Furthermore, there is an increasing support for cultural visitors programs which gained momentum in 2004 when the African Cultural Visitors Program was established. There is a rising number of African entrepreneurs who choose to move to China and there are also diaspora communities in many Chinese cities that have been found. [16]
Outside of Africa, Chinese soft power extends to countries like Barbados. Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson expressed admiration for the Chinese economic model and sought to emulate the way Chinese state controlled banks guided development.[ citation needed ] The Chinese soft-power in the Middle East countries has been expanding since the beginning of the millennium, and includes many efforts in the fields of education, journalism, and popular culture. [17]
The use of Chinese medical aid during the COVID-19 pandemic has been dubbed "face-mask diplomacy". [18]
China leveraged the 2022 Winter Olympics to promote and expand its grandiose Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While the world was transfixed on the Olympic competitions, countless delegations of international politicians traveled to Beijing to meet privately Chinese officials in order to carve out trade agreements that would allow their respective countries to become part of the BRI enterprise. [19]
In recent years, China has mainly exported Chinese culture overseas through Chinese video games. [20] For example, one-third of the top 100 mobile games in Japan currently come from China. [21]
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most-populous country. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions, inclusive of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the national capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city and largest financial center.
In politics, soft power is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce. It involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. Soft power is non-coercive, using culture, political values, and foreign policies to enact change. In 2012, Joseph Nye of Harvard University explained that with soft power, "the best propaganda is not propaganda", further explaining that during the Information Age, "credibility is the scarcest resource".
In international relations, power is defined in several different ways. Material definitions of state power emphasize economic and military power. Other definitions of power emphasize the ability to structure and constitute the nature of social relations between actors. Power is an attribute of particular actors in their interactions, as well as a social process that constitutes the social identities and capacities of actors.
In international relations, a middle power is a sovereign state that is not a great power nor a superpower, but still has large or moderate influence and international recognition.
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies is a private research university based in Seoul, in South Korea. HUFS consistently ranks as one of the best universities in South Korea. The university currently teaches 45 foreign languages. In addition, it contains studies in humanities, law, political science, social sciences, business, medical science, natural sciences, and engineering.
Beijing International Studies University is a municipal public college of foreign languages in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the City of Beijing, and co-funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Cultural diplomacy is a type of public diplomacy and soft power that includes the "exchange of ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual understanding". The purpose of cultural diplomacy is for the people of a foreign nation to develop an understanding of the nation's ideals and institutions in an effort to build broad support for economic and political objectives. In essence "cultural diplomacy reveals the soul of a nation", which in turn creates influence. Public diplomacy has played an important role in advancing national security objectives.
Confucius Institutes are public educational and cultural promotion programs funded and arranged currently by the Chinese International Education Foundation, a government-organized non-governmental organization (GONGO) under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. The Confucius Institute program was formerly under Hanban, an organization affiliated with the Chinese government. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges.
The Asian Century is the projected 21st-century dominance of Asian politics and culture, assuming certain demographic and economic trends persist. The concept of Asian Century parallels the characterisation of the 19th century as Britain's Imperial Century, and the 20th century as the American Century.
China Institute in America is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution in New York City. Its programs highlight Chinese culture and history through talks, business initiatives, language immersion programs and gallery exhibitions. The China Institute hosts a Confucius Institute in partnership with the East China Normal University.
Nation branding aims to measure, build and manage the reputation of countries. In the book Diplomacy in a Globalizing World: Theories and Practices, the authors define nation branding as "the application of corporate marketing concepts and techniques to countries, in the interests of enhancing their reputation in international relations." Many nations try to make brands in order to build relationships between different actors that are not restricted to nations. It extends to public and private sectors in a nation and helps with nationalism. States also want to participate in multilateral projects. Some approaches applied, such as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to emphasize their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state "and the successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they actually produce and sell." This is also referred to as country-of-origin effect.
Sino–African relations, also referred to as Africa–China relations or Afro–Chinese relations, are the historical, political, economic, military, social, and cultural connections between China and the African continent.
The Centre for Language Education and Cooperation is an organization under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China tasked with "providing Chinese language and cultural teaching resources and services worldwide". It is commonly referred to as the Hanban, the colloquial abbreviation for the Office of Chinese Language Council International ; it is also known as Confucius Institute Headquarters.
The Presidential Council on Nation Branding was established on January 22, 2009, by Executive Decree 21283 with the objective to develop South Korea's national brand value. The council was abolished on March 23, 2013.
The Confucius Institute (CI) program, which began establishing centers for Chinese language instruction in 2004, has been the subject of criticisms, concerns, and controversies during its international expansion.
Culinary diplomacy, gastrodiplomacy or food diplomacy is a type of cultural diplomacy, which itself is a subset of public diplomacy. Its basic premise is that "the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach". Official government-sponsored culinary diplomacy programs have been established in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Peru, Israel, the United States, Cambodia, Japan, and Nordic countries.
China–Morocco relations refer to the bilateral relations between China and Morocco. China and Morocco established diplomatic relations on November 1, 1958. Morocco establishes 'strategic partnership' with China in 2016, stronger partnership with China is sign that Morocco is seeking political and economic partners far from its traditional markets.
Community of common destiny for mankind, officially translated as community with a shared future for mankind or human community with a shared future, is a political slogan used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to describe a stated foreign-policy goal of the People's Republic of China. The phrase was first used by former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao and has been frequently cited by current General Secretary Xi Jinping. As the term's usage in English has increased, "shared future" has become more frequently used than "common destiny," as the latter arguably implies a predetermined path. The phrase was included in the CCP Constitution in 1997, and the preamble of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China when the Constitution was amended in 2018.
Chinese imperialism refers to the expansion of China's political, economic, and cultural influence beyond the boundaries of the People's Republic of China. Depending on the commentators, this term could refer to one or more of the following: Chinese expansionism, wolf warrior diplomacy, China's overseas espionage missions, or the Uyghur genocide. Although there has not been a long-standing imperial regime in China since the Xinhai Revolution and the country is officially a People's Republic, some refer to China as an imperialist country. This includes socialist parties in the Pacific such as the New People's Army, some Maoist parties, and the New Left. China's relations with Africa have also been accused of being "neo-colonialism".
Jonathan Sullivan is a British political scientist and Sinologist who researches political communications in China, Taiwan and other East Asian contexts, China's Internet and cyber-nationalism, studies of the Confucius Institutes, and China's politics of celebrity culture, hip hop and football.
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