Category: Soft Power

Trump, China, and the Big, Baffling World

Amid the upheavals of Donald Trump’s first weeks back as U.S. president, a key point of overlap between his shredding of the Atlantic partnership and his ending of U.S. foreign assistance to the developing world has been largely ignored: the impact of these choices’ impact ...

Gutting Aid, U.S. Cedes Soft Power Game to China

By Shaun Tandon When President Donald Trump froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid, Cambodia was forced to suspend workers removing dangerous mines from the country  -- until China stepped in with the necessary funding. In ...

Australia to Spend $385 Million on Papua New Guinea Rugby League Team With Eye on China

Australia will spend $385 million to establish a team from Papua New Guinea in its rugby league competition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, a move designed to help ward off China. Papua New Guinea has long lobbied for a side ...

While Confucius Institutes Are Being Kicked Out of the Global North, They Remain Popular in the Global South

In September, the Federal University of Bahia opened its new Confucius Institute, the fourteenth in Brazil. These language-learning centers, usually tie-ins with local universities, are being closed in droves across the Global North under suspicion of being centers for pro-China messaging.

Tearful Goodbyes in Malaysia as Pandas Head Back to China

Malaysian fans were reportedly in tears as two giant panda cubs returned back to China on Tuesday. Yi Yi and Sheng Yi were the offspring of Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who were loaned to Malaysia to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations. According to the arcane ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China-Led Study Proposes Global Energy Network

A globally connected network of solar and wind energy could provide three times the global energy demand by 2050 at a lower cost than independent national power systems. This is the finding of a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the United States and Denmark.

The study focused on how areas with high solar and wind capacity (such as deserts) can be linked to ...

China and Kenya to Collaborate on Film-Making

The Chinese and Kenyan governments signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop their film industries and to boost exchange programs between the two countries. The agreement with China Film Administration came as Kenya hosted a large new film festival commemorating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

The Case for More U.S. Soft Power to Counter China in the Global South

China is one of the very few truly bipartisan issues in Washington today where there is near unanimous consensus that the U.S. must work to counter Beijing's growing influence around the world, especially in developing countries.

Chinese Astronauts Reach Out to African Kids

Three Chinese astronauts are holding a live chat with African youth directly from China's orbiting space station today. The live Q&A session, scheduled for 11:00 GMT, is arguably a powerful soft power play on a continent where youth interest in space exploration and other forms of high-tech development is ...

“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 different results in many of the world's largest ...

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. Qi Mei, ...

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 ...
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