Chinas Charm-- Implication of Chinese Soft Power[荐].docxVIP

47 June?2006 S U M M A R Y China’s?Charm: Over?the?past?decade?China has?downplayed?its?hard?power in?Southeast?Asia,?instead creating?a?strategy?to?build?its soft?power.?For?the?first?time?in Implications?of?Chinese?Soft?Power Joshua?Kurlantzick Visiting?Scholar,?Carnegie?Endowment?for?International?Peace Apost-WWII?history,?the?United A States?may?be?facing?a?situation in?which?another?country’s appeal?outstrips?its?own?in?an important?region,?a?change sure?to?shock?the?United States.?Before?China’s?appeal spreads?to?other?parts?of?the developing?world,?U.S.?policy makers?need?to?understand how?China?exerts?soft?power, if?China’s?soft?power?could?be dangerous?to?developing nations,?and?whether?elements of?China’s?charm?could?threaten fter?coming?to?office?in?2001,?former Thai?Prime?Minister?Thaksin?Shinawatra paid?a?visit?to?the?nation?he?viewed?increas- ingly?as?most?important?for?Thailand’s?rela- tions.?Not?the?United?States,?though?Thailand had?long?been?a?U.S.?ally.?Thaksin?arrived?in Beijing?before?continuing?on?to?the?area?of Guangdong?his?ancestors?once?left?for Thailand.?The?prime?minister’s?visit?befuddled Guangdong?orange?farmers,?who?hardly remembered?Thaksin’s?relatives,?but?they played?along,?staging?a?lion?dance.?Returning to?Thailand,?Thaksin?touted?his?ability to?bridge?relations?between?Bangkok?and Beijing,?ultimately?pushing?the?two?nations toward?a?comprehensive?economic?and?strate- gic?partnership. Thaksin’s?actions?were?remarkable.?For decades?Thailand’s?policy?making?had?been based?partly?on?fears?of?China,?and?Sino-Thais rarely?became?involved?in?politics.?Yet?Thaksin was?only?reflecting?public?sentiment:?polls showed?that?more?than?70?percent?of?Thais now?considered?China?Thailand’s?most important?external?influence.?Thailand?is hardly?unique.?Since?1997,?perceptions?of China?in?Southeast?Asia?have?shifted?signifi- The?transformation?of?China’s?image?and influence?is?due?to?a?range?of?factors.?China has?benefited?from?missteps?by