Soft power shouldn't be overemphasized
- Source: Global Times
- [09:03 June 29 2009]
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By Lei Jianfeng
China attaches great importance to soft power. While soft power is important, overemphasizing it will negatively impact foreign and domestic policy.
Power is about getting others to do what you want, which can be accomplished through coercion, payment, or co-option. Soft power is the reflection of a country's international prestige and is based on its hard power.
China's soft power is seldom compared with that of the US or the EU. China's hard and soft power have both developed quickly since reform and opening-up began 30 years ago, but there's a long way to go to catch up with the West.
Historically, the countries that attracted others were the ones with strong hard power.
For instance, the Soviet Union in the 1930s was a sort of promised land for people in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It attracted Westerners as well. The Soviet Union embassy in the US always had long lines of people outside to apply for a visa to go to the Soviet Union. The strong hard power the Soviet Union displayed in World War II boosted its soft power and elevated it into a military and political power second only to the US.
The Soviet Union's soft power weakened in the 1970s but it still managed to attract much of the developing world. Countries including China regarded the Soviet Union's development model as the best course to prosperity.
If we don't focus on developing our hard power, we won't be able to build our soft power. We always want double the results for half the effort, but “cheating” won't fool anyone for long.
A country's soft power should first satisfy its own people, because if they are not satisfied, the soft power won't attract other countries and their people.
It's not difficult to imagine that a person can't win respect abroad if he acts wildly against the law and public opinion at home. Deng Xiaoping advanced three measures to determine the success of China's reform and opening-up: whether it promoted the growth of productive forces in a socialist society, increased the overall strength of the socialist state and raised the people's living standards.
If a country can't provide its people with good basic living and working conditions, or with a rich material and spiritual life, or if it can't realize justice and equality, it will be unable to present the world with high-level moral and spiritual qualities. It will get nowhere in attracting other countries through its soft power.
There was a peculiar phenomenon in the latter days of Mikhail Gorbachev's presidency. He won the favor of the overseas press and received a warm welcome almost everywhere. But back home he didn't enjoy a good reputation at all. The sudden disintegration of the Soviet Union is perhaps the best footnote for this contrast. Soviet soft power was wiped out swiftly.
This lesson shows that the soft power of a country should win its own people's favor first, and applause abroad second. This order can't be changed.
The author is a scholar at China Foreign Affairs University. This article was translated by Ren Yalin