Putting 'soft power' to work
Surf the net, read a newspaper, listen to the radio or watch TV on any day of the week in Australia and you will find a story about the burgeoning Australia-China relationship. Trade deals, new investment opportunities, diplomatic manoeuvring - these are the stuff of relations between countries that need each other a lot more than they used to.
But getting less fanfare from the media is the 'soft power' equation between the two nations. The phrase 'soft power' was coined by Harvard academic Joseph Nye. As he put it: 'Soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals and policies.' There is nothing new about the concept: the Soviet Union used its musical, literary and artistic talent to impress the west. Professor Nye reckons that soft power is an essential component in the diplomatic tool kit, for relations between nations to be genuinely deepened and made able to withstand the tensions and vicissitudes that inevitably arise from time to time.
In the context of Australia and China now, Professor Nye's thesis has some validity. It is fair to assume that what the people of both countries know about each other is generally confined to economic and geopolitical factors. Ask the average Australian what they know of China's rich cultural history and the answer is likely to be a short one - 'not much'. And, the same would go for the average Chinese person.
But this state of affairs is beginning to change. Australia's cultural diplomacy has, until now, been overwhelmingly dominated by links to Europe, North America and even Japan. China is the new kid on the block, but an exciting one. The cultural community in Australia is now following its cousins in business in exploring the possibilities of using soft power to deepen the relationship with mainland China.
No doubt the capacity to boost cultural ties between the two countries was strengthened in September when the Australian government, after a request from Chinese officials in 2003, handed back 10,000 fossils that had been illegally exported from the mainland.
It was, according to Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell, 'one of the biggest fossil hauls in world history, and certainly the biggest in Chinese and Australian history'. This is a large-scale example of soft power, you might say. But while the cultural dialogue between the two countries is expanding, not everyone is convinced that it amounts to much. Greg Sheridan, a veteran Australian foreign affairs commentator, says what counts is China's enticement of the Australian business class.
'The Chinese government has been superb at using business communities, and the ability to grant business concessions, to build up a big, pro-China lobby in the business class,' writes Mr Sheridan. 'And the business class, of course, is infinitely more important than artists and intellectuals.'
But if ordinary Chinese and Australians are to be seeing a lot more of each other in the future - a highly likely prospect given the two nations' drive for diplomatic and economic ties - then even a smattering of understanding about the other's artistic culture must surely be a good thing.
Greg Barns is a political commentator in Australia and a former Australian government adviser
