China's growing soft power

5000-year-old civilization, culture, two-thousand-year-old Confucian values, and the current Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are the sum total of China's soft power.

The Chinese soft power policy is also one of the peaceful rise of China in the world. So far, the rise of China has been within the international system, which is called 'state saturation'. It comes from a war like no other. That is why it is called 'Peaceful Rise'. But Whether the Udaya itself is peaceful is another matter of debate . However, without war Being ahead in every dimension of development at the international level is soft power in itself.

American professor Joseph S. Nye pioneered the concept of softpower. In his opinion, soft power is the ability to influence the behavior of others without coercion. Although he classified power into hard power, soft power and smart power, it is found that its practice has not been in China before.

China is promoting language and culture through the Confucius Institute. First, since the establishment of the Confucius Institute in South Korea in 2004, more than five hundred such institutes have been established all over the world. Confucianism emphasizes the promotion of moral values, mutual respect and brotherhood. The influence of this value can also be seen in China's foreign policy. However, the Western thinker Max Weber expressed the opinion that capitalism did not develop in China due to Confucianism, which many people believe has been concluded without sufficient study.

Similarly, Mao Zedong, the then chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, stood against old ideas, old culture, old traditions and old customs during the decade-long Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Later, when Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore in 1978, he discussed Singapore's development with the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee Kuan Yew advised him to bring in foreign investment for political stability, rapid economic development and improve the education system. But he also said that Singapore's development was possible because of Confucian values.

In fact, this system shows how democratic it is by saying 'people are the most important, government is the second...'. Addressing the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, President Xi Jinping said, 'We must present a true, multifaceted and comprehensive image of China, and increase China's soft power and influence of Chinese culture in the world.' From this statement, China considers its culture as the basis of soft power. In fact, the issue of soft power was mentioned by Hu Jintao, the then President of China, in his speech in 2007.

He said that culture is becoming an increasingly important source of national unity, creativity, and competitive power in the global arena. He promoted Chinese culture as part of the country's soft power to better ensure people's basic cultural rights and interests. The need to do was pointed out. Overall, China is advancing according to the concept of cooperation, cooperation, respect and coexistence, including the Confucian philosophy of promoting mutual respect and brotherhood in its foreign policy.

At a conference of Chinese writers, President Xi Jinping said, 'When we eat fruit, we think about the tree that grew it, when we drink water, we think about its source', it seems that Chinese culture is the source of Chinese soft power .

In China, the practice of giving each other panda-printed gifts is an integral part of Chinese culture. In particular, giving a panda to the head of state or government of another country as a symbol of goodwill is called panda diplomacy.

In recent years, the Chinese government has given pandas to countries including the US, France, Japan and South Korea. In fact, this kind of panda diplomacy is China's soft power. This kind of diplomacy was practiced in the seventh century when the Chinese emperor sent a pair of pandas to Japan as a sign of peace. After the Communist Party came to power in 1949, the then Chairman Mao Zedong revived this practice by gifting pandas to North Korea and the Soviet Union (now Russia).

After US President Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972, a pair of pandas named Ling-Lin and Hsing-Hsing were sent to Washington DC as a diplomatic signal. Panda diplomacy is one of the many factors that brought China-US closer due to the world political situation at the time, which is considered to be the beginning of a new era in the relationship between the two countries. In this way, China has been presenting soft power by giving panda gifts in its diplomatic practice for a long time.

There is a saying in China that one enemy is too many and a hundred friends are too few . Xi Jinping says, we must have a wide circle of friends . From the saying that the more friends the better, the Chinese version of Softpower focuses on making more friends.

The beginning of public policy in China is believed to have formally begun in 2009 from the time of former President Hu Jintao. Its main purpose is to improve China's image at the international level and strengthen relations with other countries.

He saw it as a way to advance China's economic and political interests. China has been promoting public diplomacy to attract foreign investment for economic development. Hu has used public policy to promote China's soft power, such as its language, great culture and values. At one time, students from China used to go to Russia, Europe and America to study, but now students from all over the world have started going to China. This is also China's success.

By hosting the Olympic Games in 2008, China had the opportunity to show its soft power through public diplomacy. Similarly, an effort has been made to strengthen the development strategy through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a 'revival' of the Silk Road. It adds connectivity . Among the many aspects of BRI is to enhance people-to-people interactions and relationships. Despite the political and economic aspects of the BRI as a soft power, it encourages more cultural exchange. Under this strategy, priority has been given to providing BRI scholarships, doing cultural activities, dialogue and cooperation among young people, and visits, which can be seen as China's growing soft power.

Finally, Chinese softpower is leaping with the times . Four decades of economic reform is also a factor in the Chinese version of soft power. In another sense, China's economic development has also affected soft power. According to many, the purpose of soft power is to finally support hard power (military power). However, apart from various reasons, China's soft power is weak compared to other big powers, especially the US, due to linguistic complexity. Film production and promotion is also an important aspect of Softpower. However, compared to the popularity of Hollywood, China is far behind. When it comes to international mass communication, the study shows that China is far behind the countries of the West. However, the Chinese version of softpower is very different in terms of its origins, cultural, economic development, ideas, policies and programs and leadership. It is also related to the Chinese leadership's mutual cooperation, understanding and mutual benefit, i.e. 'win-win' and the Chinese dream. Chinese version of Softpower It is found to be directed towards making socialism with Chinese characteristics fruitful.

(The author is a PhD scholar at Sichuan University, China)