Follow CGSP on Social Media

Listen to the CGSP Podcast

Category: Soft Power

“New” Poll Reaffirms China Far Less Popular Than the U.S. as World Leader

The same week that a pan-African survey revealed that China, for the first time, outperformed the United States in overall favorability, another poll comparing the two major powers, this time by the geopolitical risk consultancy Eurasia Group Foundation, came out with very ...

Equatorial Guinea Media Donation Highlights a Key Chinese Soft Power Strategy

China is making diplomatic inroads in Equatorial Guinea via an old tactic: donating broadcasting equipment. This comes as the West African country faces a lot of U.S. pressure due to fears that it might host China’s first Atlantic military base.

China’s Zero-COVID Policy and Travel Restrictions Leaves Thousands of Young Africans in Limbo

With China's borders all but sealed and no prospect of reopening soon as long as strict COVID-19 mitigation protocols are in effect, tens of thousands of African students are left wondering what's going to happen to their education at Chinese universities. ...

The Chinese Future of African Television

In December 2021, the U.S. confirmed that President Joe Biden will boycott the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February. But already before the end of November, China had signaled it was working towards lessening the public diplomacy fallout of such gestures. As part of the ...

President Samia Suluhu Hassan Inaugurates Tanzania’s New Chinese-Financed/Built National Defense College

China's campaign to build critical government infrastructure in Africa (aka "Building Diplomacy") marked another accomplishment on Sunday when Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who also happens to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, commissioned the new National Defense College in Dar es Salaam.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The G7’s New Infrastructure Initiative Could Strengthen China’s Global South Game: Experts

The G7’s new Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII), a $600 billion plan to build infrastructure across the Global South and counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), could have the effect of improving how Chinese companies do business and could end up improving the BRI itself, according to development experts. 

Some acknowledged that the BRI has been controversial for its environmental and debt impacts. But they also pointed out ...

China To Upgrade Equipment at Somalia’s Government-run Media Outlets

China's newly arrived ambassador to Somalia, Fei Shengchao, visited the broadcasting facilities of Radio Mogadishu and the Somali National Television last week and promised to help the government-run broadcasters to upgrade their outdated equipment. 

One of China’s Most Powerful Political Leaders, Wang Yang, Meets Separately With Legislators From Brazzaville and Kinshasa

Wang Yang, a member of China's powerful Politburo and president of the country's rubber-stamp legislature, held separate meetings with legislative leaders from both sides of the Congo river. In Beijing, Wang held talks with Edouard Mokolo Wa Mpombo, first ...

First-Ever African Students Forum Convenes In Beijing

Students from 36 different African countries gathered in Beijing on Sunday to take part in the first-ever African students' forum organized by the China-Africa Institute with the support of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one of the country's leading public policy think tanks. ...

China’s Vaccine Diplomacy: Soft Power Lessons from Latin America

By Dr. Álvaro Mendez, Co-Director & Senior Associate Fellow, Global South Unit at LSE IDEAS In early 2021, Beijing launched a diplomatic campaign to promote China’s COVID-19 vaccines with the aim of winning friends and cutting deals in ...

Gauging the Effectiveness of Chinese Soft Power in Africa

It is very difficult, if not impossible, right now to accurately public opinion perceptions of China in a region as large and diverse as Africa. There are strong indications that point in opposite directions. African leaders one after another shower China ...
Page 1 of 612…6