Publication | Closed Access
Charm offensive: how China's soft power is transforming the world
841
Citations
0
References
2008
Year
Chinese Foreign PolicyEast Asian StudiesSocial SciencesDiplomacySoft PowerInternational PoliticsLanguage StudiesChinese PoliticsGeopoliticsCultural Soft PowerInternational RelationsInternational Relation TheoryCharm OffensiveWorld PoliticsGlobalizationSoutheast AsiaChinese CultureGlobal PoliticsPolitical Science
At the start of the twenty‑first century, China is poised to become a major global power, yet its growing use of soft power to appeal to neighbors and distant countries has largely gone unnoticed. This book examines how China’s recent reliance on soft power—diplomacy, trade incentives, cultural and educational exchanges—projects a benign national image, positions it as a model of success, and builds stronger international alliances. Drawing on years of tracking China’s policies in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the author shows that Beijing’s charm offensive has reshaped the political landscape in these regions and beyond, altering the dynamics of its relationships with other countries. The author argues that China has exploited American policy mistakes and could become the first nation since the Soviet Union to rival the United States in international influence.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, China is poised to become a major global power. And though much has been written of China' s rise, a crucial aspect of this transformation has gone largely unnoticed: the way that China is using soft power to appeal to its neighbors and to distant countries alike.This book is the first to examine the significance of China' s recent reliance on soft power-- diplomacy, trade incentives, cultural and educational exchange opportunities, and other techniques-- to project a benign national image, position itself as a model of social and economic success, and develop stronger international alliances. Drawing on years of experience tracking China' s policies in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, Joshua Kurlantzick reveals how China has wooed the world with a charm offensive that has largely escaped the attention of American policy makers.Beijing' s new diplomacy has altered the political landscape in Southeast Asia and far beyond, changing the dynamics of China' s relationships with other countries. China also has worked to take advantage of American policy mistakes, Kurlantzick contends. In a provocative conclusion, he considers a future in which China may be the first nation since the Soviet Union to rival the United States in international influence.