China’s human rights record, aggressive military expansion damage its soft power rating
Beijing can drive global agenda, but its soft power efforts must be congruent with its political and economic pursuits, researcher says
China’s soft power has been weakened by its hard line on foreign policy and human rights, according to an annual survey released on Thursday.
In the “Soft Power 30” report by communications consultancy Portland and the University of South California Centre on Public Diplomacy, China ranked 27th of the 30 countries to make the list, down two places from last year.
The weaker showing was mostly a result of it finishing bottom on the “Government” subindex, which measures nations’ political values, such as their position on human rights, democracy and equality, said Jonathan McClory, the report’s author and Portland’s general manager for Asia.
“China’s record in human rights and civil liberties reflects poorly among Western audiences,” the survey said, adding that “relatively low scores in competitiveness, ease of doing business, and rule of law diminish its attractiveness as a global business hub of choice”.
Also, while China was boosted in 2017 by President Xi Jinping’s speech at the Davos forum, in which he sought to position the country as a responsible global leader that supported globalisation and free trade, as well as the fight against climate change, that positive narrative “somewhat faded” this year, the report said.