Public Diplomacy and the Rise of Chinese Soft Power

• Published in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 616; no. 1; pp. 257 - 273
• Main Author: Wang, Yiwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.03.2008; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: China; Chinese culture; Diplomacy; East Asian politics; Foreign affairs; Foreign policy; Government; International cooperation; International relations; Mass Media; National Case Studies of Public Diplomacy and Commentary; Peoples Republic of China; Persona; Political Power; Political systems; Propaganda; Public diplomacy; Public Sphere; Soft power; Theory; China; soft power; soft rise; public diplomacy; China
• ISSN: 0002-7162; 1552-3349
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716207312757

In recent years, China has sought to supplement its traditional use of hard power with soft power, and thus the Chinese government has paid more and more attention to public diplomacy. Chinese governments have previously demonstrated a limited understanding of public diplomacy, seeing it either as external propaganda or a form of internal public affairs, but this has not prevented China from becoming a skilled public diplomacy player. Key aspects of traditional Chinese culture and politics have presented major obstacles for Chinese public diplomacy. In comparison to the United States, China needs an enduring and effective public diplomacy strategy and needs to improve its skills to make full use of the modern media. The peaceful rise/peaceful development policy in Chinese grand strategy has sought to integrate Chinese hard power and soft power to create a soft rise for China.