Soft Power Enhancement And China's External Strategy

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Soft Power Enhancement And China'S External Strategy 

Xintian l he continuous rapid growth of China’S economy and the elevation of its international status increasingly require the country to bring its soft power into full play in its external strategy.To do SO,China needs to seriously contemplate on the connotation,characteristics and substance of the concept and assess the needs and requirements of the outside world for its soft power. 

I.Soft Power:The Reflection of a Nation’s Cultural Influence in International Relations 

e concept of SOft power was first raised by American SCholar Joseph Nye in 1 990.Against the traditional concept of hard power,he pointed out that SOft power is the ability to set orientations,construct environment and get others to do What a country wants in international politics.According to Nye, there are three sources for SOft power,namely,culture fwhen it attracts other countries),political values(when they can be truly achieved both at home and abroad)and foreign policy (when it is acknowledged to have legitimacy and moral prestige). Nye also held that internationa1 rules and institutions, information.and multinational corporations all constitute 

Yu Xintian is Senior Research Fellow at Shanghai Institute for International Studies 20 CHINA INTERN 气TIONAL STUDIEs・Fall 2008 

维普资讯 http://www.cqvip.com soft w,erEnhancement and China External Strategy sources of SOft power.Covering such a wide range of contents makes the definition obscure.Hence scholars have to give their own definitions.For example,Men Honghua from the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China thinks that SOft power engages five core elements: culture,ideas,development model,international systems and internationa1 image. In my opinion,three things should be considered when defining soft power.Firstly,soft power is a concept in contrast to hard power;therefore clear distinctions should be made between them.It is widely acknowledged that hard power is the concrete tangible power.Soft power is then the abstract intangible power.Thus measurable military and economic powers fa11 under the category of hard power while ideas and systems are part of soft power.Secondly,definitions ought to be most concise and broadly connotative.When culture and ideas or culture and political values are put parallel,it is an overlapped definition because any idea or political value is a reflection of a particular culture and its values.Thirdly.the definition should maximally reflect the trait of internati0nal studies,i.e.,state actors are still the main object of the study whereas other non—state actors should also be taken into consideration. 1 would like to break the connotation of SOft power into three parts.The first part includes thoughts,ideas and principles, some of which are advocated by state governments and some upheld by the people.The second part is systems.Internati0na1 studies foCUS particularly on internationa1 systems building but domestic systems are also relevant.The third part encompasses strategies and policies,which are obviously formulated and executed by governments.However,enterprises, non—governmental 0rganizati0ns and the public all have a say as to Whether to cooperate.In this way the development model, state image, information, interdependence, etc. can all be included in and explained by the definition. 

CHINA INTERNATIoNAL STUDIES・Fal1 2008 21 

维普资讯 http://www.cqvip.com Xintian In my opinion,culture,especially the core of culture--values, is the nucleus of soft power.Yan Xuetong of the Tsinghua University sees political power as the core of soft Dower.Lu Gang of the Shanghai Institute for Internationa1 Studies disagrees with him by saying that the role of culture is irrep1aceab1e and cultural power does penetrate into hard power and that a state with strategic credibility may still lack cultural power.I agree with Lu Gang’s opinion.Yan’s article reflects the long—time neglect and misunderstanding of culture in internati0na1 politica1 studies and warrants further discussion.First of all,Yan argues that political power is an operative power while cultural power is a resource power.In that sense,cultural power is looked upon as ancient books and records as well as history,literature and philosophy which are purely academic.This argument does not catch on the fact that cultural values determine our attitude toward and way to look at the whole world.They are realistic,lively and can produce huge practical effect.Nowadays many developing countries want to learn from China’s experience;however,as the thinking of their people remains unchanged,many policies are unable to be implemented and the imitation fails to produce good results. Therefore,thoughts,ideas and principles which are reflections of cultural values are also an“operative power”rather than simply a“resource power”. Secondly.Yan’s article peels political power off its cultural roots and seems to suggest that there is politics separated from culture.This is inappr0priate.Political power must operate against certain cultural background and under the guidance of certain cultural values;otherwise,it would be 1ust a hollow shell of political framework.Why the United Nations granted member states equa1 status after World War I1 was closely linked with the fact that the spirit of the Atlantic Charter was widely accepted. Last but not least,Yan and I agree that strategies and policies are important cOnn0tati0ns of soft power.Yet he stops at the