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China's soft power in East Asia: an estimation based on the outcome of surveys of six countries

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10163270902913954

1941-4641

Jung‐Nam Lee,

China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations

Abstract China, a regional power that has rapidly risen through economic growth and a strengthened military, regards the enhancement of its soft power as being key to its rise as an Asian leader and ultimately as a major world power. Yet, China's soft power in the region remains at a low level compared to its hard power. In fact, China's soft-power level in the region is not only lower than that of the United States and Japan, with which it is competing for hegemony, but even that of South Korea. Accordingly, China's hard-power rise in the region has been viewed by neighboring nations as uncomfortable and even intimidating, giving rise to the prevalence of the “China-threat theory.” To emerge as a major leader, based on a combination of hard and soft power in East Asia, China must enhance its soft power by implementing domestic political reform and seeking qualitative improvement in all sectors, including politics, society, culture, value system, human infrastructure, and foreign policy. Notes 1. Jie Li, “The Role of Soft Power in China's ‘Peaceful Rise' Strategy,” Taipingyang Xuebao [Pacific Journal] 12 (2005): 67–71; Debin Liu, “The Origin and the Development of ‘Soft Power',” Jinlin University Journal of Social Sciences Edition, 4 (2004): 60–1; Ren-wei Huang, Time and Space for China's Rise (Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Science Publishing House, 2002), 109–10. 2. 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