Hard decisions on soft power
This reading discussed the China’s Soft Power. Hard power is forcing someone to do what you want by threats, and soft power is persuading them to want what you want. So my paper talked about China’s ability to attract other states to its own way of life. The soft power of a country rests primarily on three resources: its culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when the country lives up to these values at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when other nations see the country as a legitimate and moral authority).
China’s culture is becoming immensely popular as can be seen in the popularity of the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. The enrollment of foreign students in China has tripled from 36,000 to 110,000 over the past decade, and the number of foreign tourists has increased dramatically to 17 million last year. The success of the Chinese economy is also attracting many nations, and its increased involvement in international organizations is making it more accessible. China still has far to go in areas of corruption, inequality, and education. Although many in China still only want China to quickly develop its hard power, many in China have begun to recognize the importance of soft power and recognize that China will have to change if it wants to gain support.
The U.S. and China have competing and sometimes opposite world views. Many in the U.S. can’t understand how China is gaining influence through soft power because they can’t believe that people would choose Chinese values over American. However, increased Chinese soft power doesn’t have to be bad for the U.S. First, a gain in soft power in one country does not have to result in the loss of soft power in the other. The popularity of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” doesn’t make Hollywood movies any less popular, and competition can be healthy. Second, there is no evidence that any country will switch to an authoritarian regime in order to imitate China. Third, China’s actions often benefit the U.S. as well, such as its efforts to persuade stop North Korean nuclear activities. Fourth, the Chinese elites share the same values of democracy, human rights, rule of law, and market economy as the U.S., especially when compared to groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Finally, China’s soft power techniques are borrowed from the U.S. and so should be seen as cooperative.
In conclusion, China will use a combination of hard and soft power in the future. And this can benefit the U.S. as well if the U.S. decides to help China along in its development.