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Politics

قوة الصين الناعمة والحادة

Jan 4, 2018 Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

كمبريدج ــ استثمرت الصين مليارات الدولارات بغرض زيادة قوتها الناعمة، لكنها واجهت مؤخرا ردة فِعل عنيفة في الدول الديمقراطية. ويقول تقرير جديد للصندوق الوطني للديمقراطية إن هناك حاجة لإعادة التفكير في مفهوم القوة الناعمة، لأن "المفردات المقيدة لمعنى المفهوم والمستخدمة منذ انتهاء الحرب الباردة لم تعد تعبر على نحو لائق عن الموقف المعاصر".

يصف التقرير مظاهر النفوذ الاستبدادية الجديدة الملموسة حول العالم "بالقوة الحادة". وقد تناولت مقالة غلاف نُشرت مؤخرا في مجلة الإيكونوميست مفهوم "القوة الحادة" فعرفتها بأنها الاعتماد على "الوقيعة والترهيب والضغط، التي تؤدي في مجموعها لتعزيز الرقابة الذاتية". وبينما تستغل القوة الناعمة بريق الثقافة والقيم لتعظيم قوة دولة ما، فإن القوة الحادة تساعد الأنظمة الاستبدادية على إملاء السلوك وفرضه بالقوة في الداخل والتأثير في الرأي في الخارج.

وأحيانا يستخدم مصطلح "القوة الناعمة" ــ ويقصد به القدرة على التأثير في الآخرين بطريق الجذب والإقناع بدلا من القوة الصلبة التي تنطوي على الإجبار والعقوبة ــ لوصف أي ممارسة للنفوذ لا تنطوي على استخدام القوة المادية. لكن هذا تصور خاطئ. فقد تعتمد القوة أحيانا على مَن يفوز جيشه أو اقتصاده، لكنها قد تعتمد أيضا على مَن تفوز قصته أو قضيته.

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China’s Creditor Imperialism
Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images

Politics 25

China’s Creditor Imperialism

Brahma Chellaney
Just as European imperial powers employed gunboat diplomacy, China is using sovereign debt to bend other states to its will. As Sri Lanka's handover of the strategic Hambantota port shows, states caught in debt bondage to the new imperial giant risk losing both natural assets and their very sovereignty.
warns small developing countries that easy loans from the Asian giant could cost them their sovereignty.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 18 Comments on this article

Hahn-June Yeon Jan 25, 2018

"In the age of information, the scarcest resources are attention and credulity"...

Attention cannot be the scarcest resource nowadays. Manufactured news and provocative media contents are getting people's attention everyday in our lives. It is more like attention that leads to human sympathy and personal relations are lacking today.

It is more like attention getting information with credulity from various perspectives of people are the true asset in these days.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Ting Mak Jan 7, 2018

USA also exercises its hard and soft power but mostly hard power. The Middle East wars and the Korean crisis are excellent examples of America's hard power It should be noted that China seldom excercises its hard power to start.
- lt lee Jan 8, 2018
  
  Actually, the US has little hard power. it, however, exercises two other kinds of "H" power:
  
  1. H for hypocrisy
  "Hypocrisy is central to Washington’s soft power -- its ability to get other countries to accept the legitimacy of its actions -- yet few Americans appreciate its role."
  https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2013-10-15/end-hypocrisy
  
  2. H for hormone
  Oxytocin is the hormone of trust, it is also the hormone which allows one to distinguish one's own tribe from other tribes. Trusting one's owns tribe entails distrusting other tribes.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
- Steve Hurst Jan 7, 2018
  
  Hard power, aka intervention, seldom lasts and is publicity focused, and seldom has a viable post-intervention plan
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d clark Jan 7, 2018

Soft or sharp power, we must never forget that Communist China is communist. We, the world’s governments and general publics, most often take Communist China to be just another country among the 200. It thrives from inexpensive things that domestic and international buyers want, a huge incentive to look away or not want to remember what communists are: seekers of dominance using whatever methods gain them that dominance. The Cold War was different, for the communists offered nothing of value to their opponents. But now, in this still Warm War, Communist China has it customers on commercial dope, be it low-cost loans or paper clips, and money talks. Communists do not seek openness and a bottom-up society. They are dictators, short and simple, soft or sharp. And that must be memorized and remembered every time Communist China comes to mind. Beware.
- Ting Mak Jan 7, 2018
  
  Your "We, the world’s governments and general publics," amounts to what a dictator would say
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Godfree Roberts Jan 6, 2018

"China has invested billions of dollars to increase its soft power, but it has recently suffered a backlash in democratic countries"???

China is also a democratic country. Much more so than the USA, for example. No matter how you slice it–constitutionally, electively, popularly, procedurally, operationally, substantively or financially–China comes out ahead.

In survey after survey, it's the most trusted government in the world and its policies enjoy the highest support. Read 'Selling Democracy to the Chinese': https://www.unz.com/article/selling-democracy-to-china/.
- Zijian Ma Jan 8, 2018
  
  I Agree.
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M M Jan 4, 2018

China has been filling in the void that was left by the former imperialistic powers and with the full blessing of these powers. The US was conquered economically by China long time ago, the African continent, Asia, etc. the same thing. China is now seeking and is getting access and control of many EU and ME economies, by hoping to recreate the "Silk Road" and "the Sea and Rail " roads therefore linking China to all their financially occupied and politically controlled countries and these countries are numerous and not limited just to the few. So the imperialistic agenda of the Chinese is moving slowly but surely whilst all the other main players, being the US, Russia, the U.K, France, etc. are still playing hide and seek.....
- Marc Laventurier Jan 5, 2018
  
  Sometimes an imported cigar is just a cigar.
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- Ariel Tejera Jan 5, 2018
  
  At this point in time, with Trumpists and Brexiters boastfully demanding "hard" policies, the newly minted term "sharp" sort of conveys the meaning of "effective".
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j. von Hettlingen Jan 4, 2018

In 1990 Joseph S. Nye introduced his distinction between hard power – coercion delivered through military and economic might – and soft power – influence delivered through attraction arising from the positive appeal of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies. Subsequently a vibrant and open civil society is the "crucial asset" to promote the soft power of a country. It also explains why liberal democratic values have a broad appeal.
The author says in the face of "new authoritarian influences being felt around the world" he sees an urgency to highlight the concept of "sharp power". According to The Economist, an autocratic system relies on “subversion, bullying and pressure, which combine to promote self-censorship." Although the focus of this commentary is on China, which has "invested billions of dollars to increase its soft power," the 2016 presidential election in the US shows how Russia has been wielding its "sharp power."
Over the past decade the world has seen a rising China and a resurgent Russia, that are seeking to wield influence beyond their borders in the spheres of media, culture, think tanks, and academia. But their techniques, though not hard in a coercive sense, are not exactly soft, either. Analysts and policy-makers call this inbetween - "sharp power" - which helps authoritarian regimes "compel behavior at home and manipulate opinion abroad." In other words, power does not necessarily have to be about having a stronger army or economy, "but it can also depend on whose story wins."
While soft power focuses on attraction or persuasion, sharp power is a "type of hard power." Instead of military or financial flexing muscles, it centres on distraction and the manipulation of information, spreading propaganda and waging an information warfare. The Soviet Union was known for its well-oiled propaganda machine, but it also knew how to mesmerise the Western audience with their two world famous ballet ensembles - the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. Russian ballerinas were extremely popular abroad and won the hearts of the Kennedys in Washington and those of the British royal families in London.
China is a late comer when it comes to projecting soft power. In recent decade, economic might had enabled Beijing to promote educational and cultural initiatives abroad, by setting up its Confucius Institues. They are akin to the German Goethe Institute or the French Alliance Française, where German or French is being taught in cultural institutions across the globe.
China also uses its own official news agency, Xinhua, whose China Radio International broadcasts openly in other countries, to enhance its "soft-power techniques." Despite negative reaction to its information warfare, China is much less reviled than Russia, whose pro-Kremlin propaganda network, RT, formerly Russia Today, is widely seen as Putin’s global disinformation service.
However, critics see the Confucius Institutes as offices or extensions of the Chinese state.The author urge "the Hanban, the government agency that manages the 500 Confucius Institutes and 1,000 Confucius classrooms that China supports in universities and schools around the world to teach Chinese language and culture" not to "set restrictions that limit academic freedom." Due to financial entanglement, these institutions are under pressure to comply with regulations and subject themselves to self-censorship, and a deliberate avoidance of topics sensitive to the Chinese authorities, such as Tibet, Taiwan, and Xinjiang.
The author says China offers programs that the US has to enable young foreign leaders to visit America. Overall "exchange programs that develop two-way communication and personal relations among students and young leaders are often effective generators" of soft power. He believes "China could generate more soft power if it would relax some of its tight party control over civil society."
Although "powerful and ambitious authoritarian regimes, which systematically suppress political pluralism and free expression to maintain power at home, are increasingly applying the same principles internationally," their "sharp-power tools" fail to appeal to the wider world, because people on the whole love peace and freedom. It is a lesson that authoritarian regimes fail to understand - "manipulation of media and reliance on covert channels of communication often reduces soft power."
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lt lee Jan 4, 2018

Narrative 1: Joseph Nye: "Much of the soft power that democracies wield comes from civil society, which means that these countries' openness is a crucial asset." And the US, being democratic, has a vibrant civil society.

Narrative 2: H.L. Mencken: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Are the above mutually exclusive? If not, does it mean soft power is tied 1) to the inner soul of the people and 2) they choose a moron as their leaders?
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Steve Hurst Jan 4, 2018

Of course the West has never used techniques like this ?! But now we have to call it soft power?
Aside from the sweet talking, China is buying up overseas physical assets which will be effective, a foot in the door and the door opens
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lt lee Jan 4, 2018

"If someone aims a gun at you, demands your money, and takes your wallet, what you think and want is irrelevant. That is hard power. If he persuades you to give him your money, he has changed what you think and want. That is soft power."

With the above, Nye suggests soft power as a matter of changing what one thinks and wants. Is he right?

In the first case:
Most people whose life is not under threat usually don't think "My life" or "My wallet". But they inevitably still think life is more important than wallet. Else a robber aiming a gun at anyone would be irrelevant. Conclusion: Hard power does not change what one thinks and wants.

In the second case:
If he persuades a person to give him money, he certainly does not make how people would use money irrelevant. People would still want to get the most value with their money. Rather he has successfully introduced a better way to use his money. One that would bring more return to his money. Conclusion: Soft power does not change what one thinks and wants.
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P. Kamath Jan 4, 2018

Read ever increasing number of pro-China (paid) surrogates, lobbyists and even letter writers in Asian papers. They have become experts in rewriting men in Chinese history as agents of peace. Eg: Admiral Zeng He !
- P. Kamath Jan 4, 2018
  
  I meant 'portraying' !
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