Not that your personal opinion doesn't count, but it's all about the specific application of this idea and how it stacks up in security and power totem pole that some people here are trying to differentiate to make a point. Deterrence of war is based on threat or utilization of overwhelmingly destructive force, not gently applying nebulous soft power. Korea and Vietnam wars weren't ended, or paused in one case, based on the terms of soft power, neither was Sino-Indian war. Soviets and Americans didn't win or lose the cold war based on soft power. Its direct specific applications would be in psychological warfare and propaganda in war times, but it's part and parcel of warfare and that had been long understood and well applied. If you look for publicly available historical NSC documents, you wouldn't be able to find any reference to the idea of soft power as a primary tool to plan and survive any potential war. I'd rather pay attention to actual legal and diplomatic aspects of international relations than whatever the MSM is coughing up any given day.
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Not that your personal opinion doesn't count, but it's all about the specific application of this idea and how it stacks up in security and power totem pole that some people here are trying to differentiate to make a point. Deterrence of war is based on threat or utilization of overwhelmingly destructive force, not gently applying nebulous soft power. Korea and Vietnam wars weren't ended, or paused in one case, based on the terms of soft power, neither was Sino-Indian war. Soviets and Americans didn't win or lose the cold war based on soft power. Its direct specific applications would be in psychological warfare and propaganda in war times, but it's part and parcel of warfare and that had been long understood and well applied. If you look for publicly available historical NSC documents, you wouldn't be able to find any reference to the idea of soft power as a primary tool to plan and survive any potential war. I'd rather pay attention to actual legal and diplomatic aspects of international relations than whatever the MSM is coughing up any given day.
China can grow peacefully all these years partly is also because of soft power. Deng Xiao Ping opened up China and visited many countries and built relationship with the world, even wore cowboy hat during US visit, IMHO, which to show that China is peaceful and can accept differences.
All I see is them having a debate with you, if war is necessary then so be it, I want revenge too, as a Chinese
I know. Like other proponents of soft power, you haven't mentioned anything. All any of you have ever done is whine that China needs "more soft power" without bothering to define it or even give the broadest outline of how China should go about getting it. I guess it's a fitting symmetry - soft power begets soft thinking.
Any why shouldn't cuisine be part of soft power? Might as well. Chinese food (or what gets called Chinese food) is popular throughout the world, right? Therefore, China should take the crown because everybody likes Chinese food.
^ That's how ridiculous proponents of soft power sound.
But your actual intent is crystal clear to everybody. You, as a member of the Chinese diaspora living in the West, are concerned for your safety - and rightly so - given the backlash China's rise has engendered. Here's the rub: Unless you have a Chinese passport, your and your family's safety isn't China's problem, it's yours. China isn't going to moderate its behaviour one whit to make your life easier, nor should it.
If I were you, I would stop wasting time here trying to change people's opinions - you won't succeed and you definitely won't succeed in changing Chinese government policy. I would instead invest that time into personal defense.
That's not PR, that's a meeting. People don't meet for PR, they meet to discuss issues. In the case of this meeting, it's for the Chinese official to make clear to his South Korean interlocutors exactly what is and isn't acceptable policy should their party take power. Why should South Korean officials even listen to such a thing? Because China can make Korea's life a lot more difficult than it otherwise would be if they don't.
And don't forget to invite them to Chinese food! It's so delicious that South Korea might just transfer its sovereignty from America to China for it!
Deng is gone.
On a related note from Xi Yazhou's podcast, apparently China is very pleased with that planeload of pine cone seeds and have made the matter known to the Taliban. Next thing on Taliban's export to do list is saffron. Their dude in charge of all this actually studied China's poverty relief program personally in China and this is his Afghanistan version.
Xi Yazhou said they should do an ad for their pine cone seeds: it start with Soviet tank columns driving past a pine forest and the trees shake a lot but no pine cone falls to the ground. Then later American Hummer drive by and the pine trees shake again and still no pine cone fall to the ground. The finally Taliban stop by in pickup trucks and climb up the tree to pluck the pine cones.
Tag line: Afghan pine cone seeds - watered by the blood of three empires
Xi Yazhou said they should do an ad for their pine cone seeds: it start with Soviet tank columns driving past a pine forest and the trees shake a lot but no pine cone falls to the ground. Then later American Hummer drive by and the pine trees shake again and still no pine cone fall to the ground. The finally Taliban stop by in pickup trucks and climb up the tree to pluck the pine cones.
Tag line: Afghan pine cone seeds - watered by the blood of three empires
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If that's your best assessment of these circumstances, then I don't think it's possible we could have a clear understanding of different respective views any time soon.
Not denigrating you or anything along that line, but generally speaking, the idea of nebulous soft power now seems to be more and more like a gateway to influence the naive and gullible, solely based on the writings of their reasoning and assessment.
But you see, back then the average Chinese are just cheap labor to them, with subpar military strength and an overall attitude of leaning toward the big family of western democracy and capitalism, once the growth of the national strength reach certain point, it seems that welcoming from the west faded, instead it's full on Nazi propaganda and Sinophobia, and it seems no amount of nice gesture from China will do any better, soft power only last so far, not to mention any pro CN news will soon to be censored, notice how all the violent acts of HK rioters are disappearing on google ? the current state of affair is that the world media is under America monopoly, and that is backed by world's most lethal army, super power status, US dollar and hundred of years of capital reserved from pillaging third world countries
I wish they would export coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore from Afghanistan to China. I'm sure the Taliban would be happy to offer dirt cheap rates for the commodities. Hopefully China can move in on this front.
Ores and minerals and that sort of thing is more politically sensitive (I'm sure we've all seen all those "China is making deal with Taliban for Afghan copper/lithium") so they have to wait. Agricultural products doesn't carry the same connotation hence why they're starting with those.
No one likes or even loves to see war and mayhem especially if it's going to pit China against her fellow Chinese in Taiwan. But you make it sound like it's China and us Chinese are the one's creating this conflict? Is that what you're implying?