Abstract: China’s Soft Power in CLMV: Characteristics, Motivations, and Challenges By Hang Vuthika The prime objective of this study is to examine how China’s soft power is like in its own backyard, specifically Cambodia, Laos-PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), mainly from the first time when President Hu Jintao officially mentioned the term in his speech in 2007. Living close to the Asian “giant”, these Mekong countries (Thailand excluded) can sense the immediate influence of Beijing’s soft power projection. Hence, the investigation takes three key elements into accounts– the characteristics, motivations, and challenges. This study builds on Kurlantzick’s definition to explore the nature of soft power in CLMV, but synthesizes the similar essentials into three concrete categories or so-called 3Ds (cultural diplomacy, engaging diplomacy, and economic diplomacy). The result found that that China’s investment on soft power in CLMV is driven by three main forces, namely the domestic, regional, and global dynamics. Yet, when it comes to the implementation of soft power, Beijing, along the way, also faces challenges. Predominantly, those limitations are stemmed from government policies and actions itself recognized as the internal factors, and the perception of the beholders (CLMV), and the potential collision between China’s and the US’s soft power projections, known as the external factors. Despite the uncertain picture of the China’s rise, the prospect of China’s soft power is crystal clear. It is heading, not toward a sign of cessation, but continuation since it is a process that cannot be stopped at the status quo, regardless of challenges encountered along the way.
Be the first to comment