While planning the ambitious social economy development objectives for 1.3 billion Chinese for the next 5 years and by the year 2020, the Report to 17th National Congress of the CPC also stresses the requirement on enhancing national soft power of Chinese culture.
As a term applied to international relations and public diplomacy, soft power is used to describe the strength relying on the method of culture or ideology. It refers to the ability that one country¡¯s behavior impacts on other ones, or means the required power of shaping other countries. Hard or compulsive strength is exerted during the course.
There are three major ways to influence others and make them do whatever you require: one is to one is to threaten them with big sticks; the second is to pay them with carrots; the third is to attract them or co-opt them. So that they want what you want. Soft power just represents the third way to obtain the result, which contrasts with hard power clinging to big sticks or parrots. Big sticks or parrots mean realistic measurement on national power and the measurement index includes population scale, specific military resource or gross domestic product. As what America discovered during the Vietnam War, the ambition would not be realized even if these resources were possessed. Compared with it, soft power can trace the root to culture, values and diplomatic policies.
Soft power isn¡¯t simply equal to influence, in respect that hard power from threat or dollars probably brings along the influence. Soft power is not the capacity to persuade others simply although the capacity is regarded as an important part of soft power. Soft power refers to the ability to attract others and make them compliant. From the viewpoint of behavior, soft power is attractive force. Soft power resource means the asset to generate attractive force. Soft power and hard one are the same importance for a specific country, however, soft power costs much less than compulsion. Besides, as compared with military resource and economic strength, soft power is not inferior in obtaining political purposes likely.
Soft power is closed related to national image. Influenced by the changes of domestic political, social and economic characteristics, many countries are now confronted with image problems under the pressure of globalization outside. A successful national brand will assist the country showing a more remarkable figure in the world and improve the soft power of the country further.
2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. The early Tibet issue brought forward a problem which the Chinese government must make great effort on consideration, that is, how to improve national grand through soft power. As a large number of ¡°Made in China¡± are exported abroad, China possesses huge active trade balance. But in culture export, China is facing the culture deficit. As mentioned above, soft power belongs to one form based on national culture resource and its final effect depends on the impel-force and response extent of target audience.
Firstly, we must recognize that the establishment of national brand, as one complicated project, is not only the responsibility of governments or some organizations, but involved in every citizen. China¡¯s external publicity had been manipulating by the government before. However, under the background of global economic integration and sharp development of Internet, unilateral manipulation of the government is far from enough apparently. Non-governmental organizations, industrial and commercial enterprises, school communities and citizens themselves must participate in it.
Secondly, we should promote more successful global commercial brand in China. Excellent commercial brand can act the role of ambassador representing the soft power of a country. American brands as Hollywood, Disney, Coca Cola and McDonald's are the epitome of country figure. In recent twenty and thirty years, the national brands in Japan and Korea have made tremendous improvement benefiting from the global ones as Sony, Toyota and Samsung to a large extent. Chinese Enterprises striding to the world and exporting products greatly are only composed of the first step. We must realized the transformation from products export to significance output, namely creating living brands, and satisfy with the value, belief and soul from overseas consumers
Thirdly, we must understand the long protracted nature of national brand building. We should change our ideas from traditional mode of ¡°external publicity¡± to modern national image building of ¡°external public relationship¡±. In many times, we need creative thought, active behavior, and make good preparation on protracted war owning to historical reality. As a result, talents, who specially understand the western media operation, governmental public relations and political communication, are required. Governmental public relations don¡¯t mean to throw in the towel, or serve the time, but one kind of accumulation of national strategic resource ¡°soft power¡± and effective operation. Fundamentally, soft power belongs to the asset needing cultivation constantly.
Fourthly, if national brand wants to obtain effective appeal, it needs to find which can arouse resonance with the audience in ethical cultural resources. It is not simple as to discover an emotional motto, but makes a research on the source of soft power of one country. The source contains culture, region, language, history, food, fashion, celebrity and global brand. One important task which national brand promotes is to find a great gulf fixed between current image and future ideal one, utilize concerned resources in soft power to conduct effective communication and transmission, enforce the audience to change their old or false impression and receive a total new one.
Being oriented at the Whole World, politics has now become the competition of credibility. Traditional right power is focused in which is stronger in military or economic strength, while the politics in information age depends on which side has more wonderful story. Soft power has ever been the key factor of leadership. Leaders must understand that if they want to attract others, creditability and justifiability must be possessed. If China hopes to rise and lead the world, China should make the key choice on how to use soft power effectively.
