China’s Soft Power

One aspect of the rise of China has been an increase in its soft power in regional and global affairs, which is increasingly observed and debated. China’s soft power refers to its global “influence and attractiveness,” in the words of Joseph Nye, derived from the country’s culture, development models, ideals, and foreign policy. In this CNAPS presentation, Dr. Pang discussed China’s soft power from a Chinese perspective: he examined issues including China’s soft resources and their possible conversion into power; the role of China’s development model in building the nation’s appeal to others; China’s approaches to wielding its soft power; and the challenges and dilemmas created by building this soft power. Dr. Pang also discussed the soft power dimension of China-U.S. relations, and the implications of China’s soft power for cooperation and competition between China and the United States.

Dr. Pang Zhongying is Professor of International Relations at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China in Beijing. He received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Peking University and his B.A. from Nankai University in Tianjin. He also studied at the University of Warwick in the U.K. His previous positions include Professor and Director at the Institute of Global Studies at Nankai University, Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University’s Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, Senior Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies and Analyst at the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia. He has published extensively on world affairs in leading journals and newspapers, and has appeared on radio and television shows. He is a contributing editor with The National Interest in Washington, DC, and serves on the international editorial board of the journal Globalizations, published by Routledge in London.