I think you guys underestimated soft power completely.
To be brutally honest it reminds me of those YouTube videos of people that say and show their dogs are saying, "Mama!" If they didn't tell you the dog said, "Mama," and instead said, "corn dog," everyone would be believing and amazed that a dog said, "corn dog." That's the power of suggestion. Everything Tharoor said can be said of China at some point or even another country like Mexico. Do we ever hear of Mexican soft power? Actress Shirley McClaine can be said is one of those caught in the spell of Indian soft power since all the new age philosophy she teaches is Indian in origin. Thing is she did the same thing for China back in the lates 60s and early 70s and now she's a big critic of China. China was worse back then so what has changed to make it different? Politics. Chinese food is still second behind Italian as the ethnic food of choice in the US. What about the Chinese medicine and alternative therapy craze today? Kung Fu movies are still popular. Growth in learning the Chinese language outstrips evey other language today. But according to those that anoint themselves the rulers of what is soft power, India has more soft power than China? So how does whatever Tharoor points out translate into power when China can point to and historical had these things but somehow doesn't have soft power?
Want to measure real soft power? India has all these supposed advantages yet are they ahead of China? What does it say about China with all its negatives and pessimism from others that it can still outperform all their expectations? All it takes to darken all of India's shining glimmering example is to truly scrutinize and not have the bias and conflict of interest that gives India good attention where all the ugly things are ignored for geo-political purposes. Good thing that video was back in 2009. It would be delusional to brag about those things after what you see India is going through today. I've written before about the lie of valuing the version of soft power that is being peddled because it's not really power when you're the one seeking favor and acceptance of what you have to offer others. Real "soft power" is being the one that gets to decide what's accepted.
I agree with what this to only a certain extent. Soft power can be seen as PR from realist perspective, but still very practical and important. Soft power is pretty much almost everything that hard power can't do, which is a lot.
I also didn't recall him comparing to China here.
soft power is like asking to date a girl by being nice with her
only if you got money (hard power), then she will go out with you
I won't compare relationships to soft and hard power. Hard power is defined by coercive diplomacy and using muscles, while soft power is pretty much everything else.
Japan is a good example of what "soft power" cannot do. Even during the height of its economic boom in 80s, it had very little political relevance in the greater scheme of things. The West did not turn to Japan for direction, nor was Japan able to impose its own policies. Rather Japan was forced to signed the Plaza Accord and "rebalance" its economy by W. Europe and USA. It's political influence greatly waned and is a shadow of its power during late 19th-WWII. It lacked real hard power, and despite then being one of the largest economies and most powerful militaries, it lacked political will and hard power. The rest of Asia did not and do fear Japan's military, as they knew the big dogs were USA & USSR. During the 80's and even now, Asia was still hardly dependent on Japan's economy, unlike China today. Rather Japan then was dependent on US and W. Europe's export markets. Even today despite all the love of Hello Kitty, J-Pop, Anime, Nintendo, etc. how well and how strong is Japan doing to day? It's stuck on the path of a middle power, with its economy rolling in debt and its big companies like Toshiba and Sony plummeting, hoping and trying to find a way into the Chinese market.
I'm afraid you're underestimating Japan and its soft power completely. The amount of soft power cultural icons produced in Japan exceeds billions in economical profit, and it is perhaps the most pervasive Japanese influence today. Japan also used its culture to express its pacifism, heritage, society, and a lot of other things through the use of anime, toys, and much more. As for fearing Japan's military, you only got have the picture. JSDF, particularly maritime force, is perhaps one of the most, if not the most advanced, in Asia.(We're excluding strategic nuclear forces and ASBMs and looking at overall capabilities and hardware. They are state-of-the-art. This is what puts China and Russia behind Japan, although of course these 2 states yield much heavier firepower). You've mentioned a partial reason to why Japan's military wasn't feared, but you're overlooking 2 other crucial factors: Japan's pacifism + article 9, and Japan's soft power. Japan's soft power, coming from its pacifism and as liberal democracy puts Japan as a Blue state and an ally of the West. This is a soft power on itself already. As for the rest of the points you've argued, none of them stand at all, particularly Asian assistance on Japan. Japan's assistance was through ODA, and in addition, most states today will attempt for self-capacity building, so it's not even a point to argue that the rest of Asia ain't counting on Japan. As for Japan's economy, I've mentioned it up there in regards to the industry that these cultural icons reap. We should instead ask, what IF Japan did NOT have soft power? How much of a chunk would that disappear from Japan's economy? Furthermore, your association of Japan's current crises with soft power is also invalid because neither are direct causation nor correlated.
Finally, soft power is more than just what it is. Soft power is also how others receive you, which includes everything from society to liberties to cultural values to ethics to use of devices. Japan's work ethic was an inspiration, especially their assembly line system, which has been adopted worldwide. Many around the world are inspired by Japan's work ethics, cultural intact, manners, and various components. Canadians are respected, especially demonstrated through the ease of travel of passports, particularly to pacifism, respects to human rights, multiculturalism, and humanitarian efforts. US soft power is perhaps so extensive that it's almost indistinguishable of which is Americanism. Cultural icons such as MTV, Hollywood, brands, inventions, fashions all represent US to the point that no one won't have heard of it. These reap billions of profits for US every year. With the very same cause, slogans of "freedom" represents and attracts visitors and immigrants, no matter how we disagree or think Washington is contradictory. At the same time, American foreign policies also build itself into what represents US, which also attracts flak. This is what we must understand: what others receive can go both ways. This is also where hard power has counterproductive results.
A state with tremendous influences in soft power have the abilities to influence international public opinion of the culture and the people of that state, which at times is even a powerful propaganda tool for discouraging wars. This is because if a state attempts aggression on the state with soft power, it's easier for propaganda to accuse the aggressor of attacking a "nice" state. This is powerful against states that are also democratic because advanced democracies are often more pacifist and therefore making it even harder for the government to securitize their agenda. Of course, the soft power and alliances all means that there's more to cost in terms of international image and condemnation by the international committee when attempting to attack these states. Let's consider peaceful Tibetans vs China in the equation.
Finally for China, the utilization of soft power is extremely important. Soft power will help China go a long way to build better and cleaner image with the int'l community and their trust. While we can say that the West is biased against China to start with(which is true), this doesn't mean soft power won't have an effect. Instead, proper soft power can wipe accusations of China as "cultural genocidal state", "threatening", "poor work ethics", and those labels. Furthermore, the attempt at developing soft power will help both people from both outside and inside to connect at the same time and improve. Ideas can further exchange as well as culture. The Chinese people will also improve in the process because soft power will require the people to actually exercise those values, attitudes, and ideas. The gradual associations will have a definite influence, especially from social psychological perspective. This includes work ethics that China's been accused of, as well as even certain environmental policies. Understanding more MEANS less less misunderstanding, hate, confusions. Appreciation of mutual cultures and learning will be one of the best medicines to tackling societal issues because both sides can set aside differences and learn from each other. Actual experiences can defy conventional attitudes at times(source: social psychology on intergroup relations)In addition, the exchange and flows of ideas will allow the outside to understand more about Chinese as a culture, heritage, values, which are all extremely important and the best weapons against biased mainstream media. Ask yourself if you're convinced that China ain't what the media made it to be. Odds are, you do know something about the country, which is why you know what the media spews are lies.
Furthermore, soft power can let the world understand China better, which the world severely lacks. let them know how far China has come, how the progress and transition isn't easy, and why it's even more important we put aside differences and work together.
Our world is too intertwined these days to ignore the international community and the use of soft power. This is because we are living with others, so it's impossible and unconstructive for China to disregard how the rest of the world perceives China. China needs others to improve and modernize itself as much as the world needs China. Let's get this straight.
Finally, China demonstrating soft power is better and more important than nationalism, and even important to keeping Chinese nationalism in check. Over-nationalism can really stall progress in the society, advance in thinking, and moving forward in time with relationships with other people, states, and opening up the mind. Treat nationalism and ethnocentricism as human and you get egocentrism, which is very unsocial behavior. Perhaps we can argue that we Chinese love our nation as it's in our blood, but the problem with this is also that because not everyone thinks critically about nationalism, many tends to forestall the society. Just compare those who accuse others as un-American for not supporting Iraq War, and you already have an American version of these. Such close-mindedness is dangerous and prone to fundamentalism and other close-minded ideas, including racisms and certain aspects of conservatism.(not intending on insulting anyone who's conservative). (source: social psychology). This includes those who commit genocides, deny war crimes(certain minority of the Japanese population and government) What soft power can do is in a sense, a new approach by channeling this nationalism/patriotism into demonstrating leadership, citizenship, and proper behaviour. To love your nation is supposed to help your nation advance, not conform to emotions of the masses and commit errors which brings your people one step backwards). Lastly, because this soft power requires peoples and societies as a whole to change, this forces either those who consider themselves nationalistic to perhaps change their ways, or else any attempts to hang on the slogan of patriot will be empty and can be rebuked. If these are demonstrated, the overall quality of the people and society will advance. This in turn also can be used to change how a state has been received, although unnecessarily. At the end of the day, there's no harm in having more soft power, but being a state being associated with hard-lined hard power is less attractive in the international community.
Finally, having soft power doesn't mean you can't possess a competent military.
