NVDB005_-_CH_3.004._China’s_Soft_Power_in_Southeast_Asia_-_Dr._C_line-2

27 — DP Vol. 05

Regional Security Dilemma: Trends, Directions, and Illusion

Dr. Céline-Agathe Caro is the Director of the KAS Office in Thailand. Before serving in Asia, she was a Senior Policy Analyst at KAS Washington (2016-2018), the Coordinator for European Policy in the headquarters of the foundation in Berlin (2010-2015), and a Research Fellow in its Paris office (2007-2010). Prior to that she was an Assistant Professor and a Lecturer at the University of Dresden, Germany (2002-2007). Her research focuses on current issues regarding the future of the European integration and Germany’s EU policy, U.S. transatlantic policy and U.S. positions on key international issues as well as the perception of the EU and current international developments in Southeast Asia. Since 2010 Céline-Agathe Caro is a frequent participant in seminars and panel discussions at think tanks, governmental institutions, and universities.

What is Soft Power?

The rise of “wolf warrior” diplomats aggressively promoting Beijing’s narrative, Confucius Institutes, panda bear gifts, “vaccine diplomacy” and more show that China’s manifold soft power efforts in ASEAN and beyond are expanding and intensifying. They range from investment and media outreach to varied forms of diplomatic, academic, professional, and cultural exchange, to medical aid and humanitarian assistance.

The concept of soft power was first introduced in the late 1980s by Harvard Professor Joseph S. Nye, Jr. According to Nye’s definition, power itself is the capacity to influence the behavior and preferences of other actors (states, societies, companies) in the furtherance of one’s own objectives. At the national level, there are several ways to exert that power. A state can use “hard” power, referring to force or the threat of it, through political, economic, or military channels. It can also be induced with the use of payments, favorable trade agreements, or strategic “deals”. Otherwise, “soft power” can be used to co-opt others through attraction, persuasion and constructive means. These “soft” alternatives coalesce around the practice of nudging, rather than coercing.

A country’s soft power lies in its political values and norms, the legitimacy and moral authority of its foreign policies, and its international reputation, as well as the reach and familiarity of its cultural output. Analyzing perceptions, long-term attitudes, choices, and policies abroad can be useful when measuring the impact of a country’s soft power. Projecting soft power may help enhance a nation’s international prestige and partner- ships, its economic, academic, and cultural appeal, and its self-confidence and prosperity.

The Chinese Approach

The concept of soft power gained notoriety in China in October 2007, when then-President Hu Jintao mentioned the term officially and stressed the need to “enhance the influence of Chinese culture worldwide”

for the nation’s prosperity. 1 His successor, Xi Jinping, recognized early on the importance of this strategy. After becoming president in 2014, he announced his intention to “increase China’s soft power, give a good Chinese narrative, and better communicate China’s message to the world”. 2 In 2017, President Xi used an address to the National Congress of the Communist Party to reaffirm his objectives: to “strengthen people- to-people and cultural exchanges with other countries” and “tell China’s stories well, present a true, multi-di- mensional, and panoramic view of China, and enhance our country’s cultural soft power.” 3 In the context of its growing economic and military power, scholars have also documented China’s objective to weaken the narrative of a “China threat” – common in Western media – to emphasise the discourse of its “peaceful rise”. 4

China’s comprehensive, top-down approach aimed at nurturing a positive, attractive image of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) abroad represents the country’s own particular understanding of soft power. While Joseph Nye described it as an asset that can exert influence somewhat independently of the state, China deploys it more as a tool – an active instrument

1 Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Liberia, “Full text of Hu Jintao’s report delivered at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Oct. 15, 2007”, https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/celr//eng/gyzg/a123/ t375202.htm

2 David Shambaugh, “China’s Soft-Power Push. The Search for Respect”, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2015, Volume 94, Number 4, p. 99-107, here p.99. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ china/2015-06-16/chinas-soft-power-push

3 Xi Jinping, “Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, Address delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 18th October 2017, p. 39, http://www. xinhuanet.com/english/download/Xi_Jinping’s_report_at_19th_ CPC_National_Congress.pdf

4 Falk Hartig, “How China Understands Public Diplomacy: The Importance of National Image for National Interests”, International Studies Review, Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2016, p. 655-680, https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viw007