Soft power: domestic and global policies
Yulin Zhuang, an American living in Beijing, wrote the the Hypermondern (a Beijing-based blog) about Chinese soft power. (Thanks to Dan Harris at China Law Blog for the reference.)How would your students describe the intersection of domestic and foreign policy and the global political environment that creates the opportunity for China to exercise its soft power? How would they describe changes that could threaten China's soft power? Would such changes affect policies, the government, or the regime?
The Loss of Soft Power
"'My family, at the dinner table [in Beijing], will talk about how terrible it is. The conversation goes something like this: 'See? This is what happens when you interfere with other countries’ internal affairs.'... And finally the smug suggestion: 'America should learn from China. China makes friends wherever it goes, not enemies. That’s because we don’t try to tell them what to do.'
"The United States... has made many enemies throughout the world, and alienated many of its friends. What sets my nerves on edge, however, is the sense that the People’s Republic will never face the same problems...
"Before... 1972... China had no interests overseas. It maintained diplomatic relations with only a few countries and was focused entirely on itself. China was self-sufficient but hopelessly backwards. With Deng’s reforms and the opening of the market came an increase in the amount of international trade and the rise of consumerism... China’s entry into the WTO in 2001 integrated it into the world economy, making it vulnerable to many of the problems of globalization...
"As China grows increasingly dependent on foreign sources for critical resources, it will increasingly invest in the global market. Already Chinese companies have made many moves to achieve better supply security, especially in oil... Chinese investment means Chinese nationals abroad. China is investing heavily in third world countries, competing with Western nations in order to be the first to exploit those resources. China’s lack of an imperialist history and its status as the world’s largest developing nation gives it a lot of influence with these countries. One of the cornerstones of Chinese foreign policy is the idea of noninterference, and Chinese aid comes with none of the demands for transparency, accountability, and political reform that Western aid comes with. For the moment, China truly is making a great number of friends in the third world.
"This trend, however, cannot last forever... As China develops, it falls into the classic pattern of developed nations -- importing raw materials from underdeveloped nations, exporting the finished products back to them, and pocketing the difference... China comes first...
"The developing world is an unsafe place. The Chinese promise noninterference, but as its assets in the developing world increase, so does the risk of losing them. China has shown itself to be committed to regional stability, preferring multilateral talks to action. However, if war breaks out, it will have to choose between protecting its citizens and investments or losing both...
"[T]he case of Darfur. Ethnic violence on the scale of genocide has been occurring for several years, and the UN has done nothing even to censure the Sudanese government for its actions because China has made it clear that it will use its veto to shoot down any 'interference' with Sudanese domestic policies. The reason for this is the heavy Chinese reliance on Sudanese oil fields... While this kind of covert support wins them friends now, in the future, it will perhaps make them just as many enemies...
"It would be naive of China to feel that its place as the champion of the developing world is secure... It would be a good idea for Chinese citizens to not be complacent in the knowledge that a Chinese passport makes one a low-profile target in most countries, but to realize that it will take careful maneuvering by the government and China’s companies in order to maintain the current status quo."
See also teaching comparative's previous entries about soft power.
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:00 AM
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