Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power

**airsuperiority** · 05-11-2012, 03:03 AM

Originally Posted by AssassinsMace

Soft power comes in a vast number of forms. The problem comes when one is only promoted as if none other exists. To say you have it is to say others don’t. And that’s what all this comes down to. If it’s suggested that China must do this or that to get it is to say China doesn’t have it. If it’s acknowledged that there are many different kinds of soft power, why is it this one so important? Much of what Tharoor points about how remarkable India is can be said of many other countries as well. It’s just they don’t get the media attention because all those other countries aren’t being put up as a model opposing China.

Is soft power a popularity contest? Does China need to get people to like them more? Does popularity come by merit alone? Popularity is heavily influenced by politics. Like I mentioned before actress Shirley McClaine promoted Chinese culture decades ago like she does with India today. But today McClaine is a big critic of China. China was worse back then so merit don’t mean anything when politics has influence. When people want to hate you, they’re going to hate you. So don’t bother wasting time thinking you can convince them otherwise. If China is a failure in the popularity contest, then to believe so is an admission that the Western opinion is the only that counts and this is all about appeasing them. The BBC’s own annual report on global favorability ratings shows China scores high with the majority of the world. China’s need to acquire this version of soft power because a small minority doesn’t like China? It’s another deception because it’s not about what the world wants. It’s about they want for their own self-interests.

I’ve been reading up on soft power and there seems to be the commonality that soft power is getting what you want from others without coercion. Well then look at the long list of countries that don’t have soft power over China because everything they do to get China to follow is by coercion whether it be economic or military threats. Many critics of China see cooperation in general as weakness which is why they don’t care nor consider what China wants. Cooperation is the backbone of soft power.

Want an example of Chinese soft power that you’re seeing at play today and growing? Hollywood is a major major major tool of Western soft power. Hollywood is lusting to get into the China market because it has become a major box office source of revenue. It’s been talked about before about the Red Dawn remake saga. The sale of MGM studios, producer of Red Dawn, was hung up because of fear of how China was going to react to a movie where China invades the US in the remake. They then spent a million more dollars changing though CGI the Chinese bad guys into North Koreans. All this was done without any Chinese government official saying a word about it. No coercion involved. Hollywood needs China to make money in the box office and Chinese money to make all those expensive movies. And you don’t think that influences activist Hollywood actors in fear of not working in Hollywood anymore because they’re too much of a risk?

Real soft power comes when they need you not the other way around.

Reading this, I get where you're coming from and will quite agree to the extent. In my opinion, I feel that China can really do some work, but less as a reason to appease the West, but rather more as for others to understand more about China(kinda my intentions all along). Furthermore, I feel that China can benefit from certain changes that may result from soft power, such as societal, environmental improvements and what-not. These will be less for appeasing others and more for what benefits the Chinese people as a whole. While visitors can claim "China's environments are now better than before", it's still the Chinese people who truly benefits the most, such as learning how to care for the environment better. In a sense, I'm also side-criticizing China has lost many/some of its cultures, values, and ethics since C.R and that as China attempts to "change" its image through the use of soft power, the core benefits will still go to the people as they'll also be there to participate and "re-flourish" the beauty that China is. Of course this might seem a bit side-tracked from the general soft power that we've mentioned with icons and all, but I do think a Chinese nation with its former cultural values, heritage, ethics,etc..can produce cultural icons and beauties with Chinese characteristics which speaks for what China really is. Symbols such as dragon, chinese characters, 3-kingdoms(one of the best soft power literature), feng-huang(phoenix?), Forbidden City demonstrated Chinese heritage as well as Chinese characteristics, such as the systematic placements of the courts of the Forbidden City. Icons such as Guo Jingjing, Yao Ming, LangLang, Liu Xiang, Jet Li, Zhang Yimou, are contemporary icons, but they carry their own stories too. Despite all these, something to truly represent or define China has still yet to emerge. While again attuning to your argument that there's no need to impress others, I do think that China is still in the midst of searching its identity(but making progress) due to the transformations China is still going through. Despite all that, I do think that when China does eventually hatch out in its mature state, the soft power will be natural and attractive, like that you're saying.

---------- Post added at 01:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Kurt

People are learning Chinese voluntarily because of the soft power of the ancient Chinese culture. There are few people learning Chinese because they consider their military hard power. Just as an example.

Islam started out because of the convincing soft power that enabled to convert people voluntarily, Christianity worked along the same lines. Sooner or later, involuntary conversion by the use of hard power started and the Yellow turbans are an example, well known to Chinese, how this mechanism works. For the mechanism it's irrelevant whether it's within a large country or between smaller countries/tribes. China is one country, but it's so large that many groups live within it that do have a lot of differences. During the Yellow turban time China quite correctly realized their position with fuzzy borders and lands with differing degrees of autonomy, that's why China sees themselves as land in the middle. This view has shifted from degree of autonomy to degree of ideological influence, begun during Mao as one of the leaders of the non-aligned movement, and has no shifted to other influences of the Chinese outlook on the world being adopted by other countries. That's Chinese soft power and because China never demanded magnificient tribute, China has always been a country with a very strong soft power in the region and in the world. At the moment, Chinese soft power on the West is in my opinion on a low while Chinese soft power on developing countries is on a high.

The Dalai Lama has charisma = soft power, that's why he is heard by many people. Invitations of the Dalai Lama are a way of sharing in the many sympathies he has. The problem with the profit derived from such invitations is the PRC backlash, so things have to be carefully balanced. If a group wants a confrontation with China, why shouldn't they reap as much soft power benefits as possible by inviting the Dalai Lama as frequent as possible?

Religion is soft power because it forms the way people perceive their world and makes it easier to share information with co-religionists. You have a misconception about it, you don't derive power from shared religion, but knowledge transfer and cooperation. A good example would be the rise of the West while their Muslim neighbours didn't have a chance to keep up. Part of the rise of the West were the religious wars between the Christian confessions during which each confessional group developed for example their own shared military system. The importance of knowledge transfer due to shared religion is why in pre-Communist times conversions of Russia to a different Chrsistian confession was a frequent topic. It was about better partaking in knowledge transfers (due to a shared outlook like the Protestant work ethic Protestant work ethic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and thus economic development.

Iran and Saudi-Arabia share a religion, but not the official state religious branch. Iran is Shia Shia Islam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Suadi-Arabia is Wahhabi Sunni Wahhabi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia with a large Shia group living on the land above the oil fields without reaping as much benefits as the Sunni or even Wahhabi. In Islam since earliest times the Shia and the Sunni have waged bloody wars against each other over the succession of the caliph and now about the usual religious nitpicking that is a typical attitude in all Western Eurasian religions and allows them to be even more hostile against differing branches of the same religion than against other religions. Things get more complicated because Saudi-Arabia is not only Sunni with a traditional (means things have changed in recent times)Shia workforce, like the other ruling classes of the Gulf Cooperation, but they are Wahhabi Sunnis. The Wahhabi are very aggressive Sunni religious warriors who want all Musilims to be like them because they consider everything else a gross violation of Islam, as bad as heathens (among whom they include the al Khitab People of the Book - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia despite the prophet).

Very well-put.

**AssassinsMace** · 05-14-2012, 03:32 PM

Disturbing footage of British man 'sexually assaulting woman and then being beaten up' causes outrage in China after being posted online | Mail Online

This is apparently the video. Nothing really sexually and violently explicit since it's posting is okayed on youtube.

Now you wonder why I post this story in this thread? Because this shows how the Chinese government doesn't exploit this as a form of soft power like they would do in the West. How many times do we see unpleasant videos about China being spun in the news media? Plenty. Why? Because not only does it serve as propaganda but it also puts China on the defensive and thus have to prove otherwise. It's guilty until you prove yourself innocent. And how do you do that? Obedience in anything without question and generally it has nothing to do with what's being charged because it would be in a sense the ultimate act of obedience.

Ironically China does not live up to the stereotype. This guy will most likely not get the equal treatment under the law as the average Chinese criminal would suffer simple because he's a foreign citizen of a Western country. And I mean lighter not more severe. It's not like this is a unique incident. I've heard and read of plenty of incidents by foreigners in China committing some demeaning act of humiliation against Chinese in China. This guy was a tourist? If he believed the stereotypes were true, don't you think this guy would refrain and watch himself? So he probably knows buddies who bragged about doing this before and thought he could do it too. Just read the comments. Don't expect Western women rights groups to be outraged or even speak a word about it.

So how would China exploit this in the world of soft power? The West is not going to make this a story unless something happens in reaction to it. Put them on the defensive.

I was watching Fareed Zakaria on CNN on Sunday. He brought up a story that apparently is getting some play in China too about "The French Fry Guy." The French Fry Guy is a foreigner who was seen and someone took pictures of sharing McDonald's french fries with a poor Chinese woman. Zakaria charged this was a ploy by China to divert attention away from the scandals going on. Interesting this story of the rape by a British man probably would've been more suitable for that charge. But then that would've probably backfired on him making light of a serious crime against a woman. So he chose the other. Offended that I can make such an assumption? Just look at Zakaria and who's suppose to be more responsible.

**Kurt** · 05-25-2012, 07:24 PM

I currently read an official German gouvernment publication on use of psychology in espionage ("Nachrichtendienstpsychologie" ISBN 3-930732-89-0). It has even a section devoted to China and explicitly warns foreigners to take any chance in encountering the police for whatever reason because under these circumstanes the Chinese police will try to find any fault that requires a hefty payment. According to this publication foreigners are, because of their imagined (and perceived) wealth, seen as cash cows that need to be milked as dry as possible. So the court might settle for something advantegous, like lots of compensation money (including Western gouvernment donations) and a much reduced prison term, so you see possibly only half the story, but you are right that everyone should respect the law and be treated according to the same laws.

An example of softpower is this op-ed contribution translated from Chinese about Patriotism with Chinese Characteristics. The publisher is a well known Chinese netizen blogger who uses his influence to appeal for the ancient Chinese values that crumble in todays world. The contribution will have a major influence in shaping the global perception of Chinese, including Chinese patriotism that is hard to understand from a European point of view.

**montyp165** · 05-26-2012, 12:18 AM

Originally Posted by Kurt

I currently read an official German gouvernment publication on use of psychology in espionage ("Nachrichtendienstpsychologie" ISBN 3-930732-89-0). It has even a section devoted to China and explicitly warns foreigners to take any chance in encountering the police for whatever reason because under these circumstanes the Chinese police will try to find any fault that requires a hefty payment. According to this publication foreigners are, because of their imagined (and perceived) wealth, seen as cash cows that need to be milked as dry as possible. So the court might settle for something advantegous, like lots of compensation money (including Western gouvernment donations) and a much reduced prison term, so you see possibly only half the story, but you are right that everyone should respect the law and be treated according to the same laws.

An example of softpower is this op-ed contribution translated from Chinese about Patriotism with Chinese Characteristics. The publisher is a well known Chinese netizen blogger who uses his influence to appeal for the ancient Chinese values that crumble in todays world. The contribution will have a major influence in shaping the global perception of Chinese, including Chinese patriotism that is hard to understand from a European point of view.

A nation's strength is as much internal organization as it is technological prowess, of which many such examples are littered in history. Good internal organization in turn enhances social morale, which enables a nation to overcome hardships and challenges much more readily than one with weak organization. This is especially true in a military context.

**Kurt** · 05-26-2012, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by montyp165

A nation's strength is as much internal organization as it is technological prowess, of which many such examples are littered in history. Good internal organization in turn enhances social morale, which enables a nation to overcome hardships and challenges much more readily than one with weak organization. This is especially true in a military context.

I see good internal organization that enhances social morale not only as something within a nation, but within humankind. Within a nation, a group that has a good organization and convincingly shows that they do act because they care for others has a major influence because people perceive them as a good choice to empower for a better life. For example, the volunteers cleaning up Tahrir square after the protests showed the strong feeling for a patriotic move for national advancement prevailent among many Egyptians and from an economic perspective China is a major source of inspiration for them (it's a mix of Western and Chinese softpower so to say).

If you see nations just like different villages within one county, they do have their old conflicts, but they also help and influence each other via their individual members. This is the root of soft power. For this reason especially disaster relief does have a major role in softpower projection and the large US amphibious warfare and aircraft carriers do not only project military hard power, but also a helping hand whenever disasters strike. These disasters are more frequent than wars. China is also a contributor to disaster relief worldwide.

The small and large disasters striking home are a soft power test within one society that can show the cracks of the prevalent building. The Sichuan earthquake was a major catastrophe and the policemen shielding the collapsed buildings might have done the right thing to prevent even more casualties. The problem is rather that it was a public test for the confidence inspired by the state bureaucracy and in many cases it failed (it does also fail in many Western countries), this in turn has major negative repercussions for the softpower based ability of these institutions to lead. In ancient times of the Chinese Empire, such events were suitable for overthrowing the Son of Heaven, although the arguments were different, the driving force was the same. That's no call for overthrowing the Chinese gouvernment, far from it, but it shows a problem necessary to tackle in every country. A very simple thing would be helping each other in everyday perils and the frequent health problems suffered due to accidents and other causes.
If a society has enough people voluntarily providing first aid, then this nation is strong in soft power and you should ask yourself twice before challenging their hard power. The skeleton of all hard power is soft power and this soft power backed hard power would be far from cracking under overwhelming enemy hard power.
A difference between soft and hard power is that you can add soft power together that comes from various sources and influences into one individual whole. That's why from softpower exchanges, no matter how conflicted and heated, the whole of mankind does profit, an attribute lacking in angry hard power exchanges.