Description
Book SynopsisGood governance and anti-corruption efforts were expected to enhance soft power overseas. The party-state successfully governed China for decades relying on its controversial governance approaches. The country has visibly demonstrated economic and social development. However, China's growing influence has failed to be recognised as soft power, being viewed rather as sharp power most times. The monograph investigates whether China is mindful of exporting its political ideas and whether it considers its governance model to be the pillar of its soft power portfolio. Through framing analysis of media coverage and in-depth interviews with Australian public diplomacy experts, the monograph presents how Australia, a western country with close economic ties with China, interprets China's intended narrative regarding its governance model and development. Examining the congruity between China's projection and Australia's mediation sheds a new light on the relationship between domestic governance, soft power, and sharp power. By sketching out Beijing’s ambitions and attempts, the monograph draws implications about China's public diplomacy and the future global order.
Trade Review‘This is a splendid and insightful account of China’s anti-corruption campaign, the “China Dream”, soft power and governance. Valuable for many areas of study, such as politics, soft power and Western perceptions, it presents the Australian media as unnecessarily negative about China’s political system.’ —Colin Mackerras AO, Professor Emeritus, Grith University, Australia
‘The post-cold war economic love-fest between USA and China having steamed up into a “scold war”, Li seeks to examine objectively the “softness” of China’s soft power in Western eyes. In doing so he uncovers empirically how the intended attractiveness of China’s governance model, like all soft power, registers only in the minds of the “like-minded”.’ —Naren Chitty A.M., Professor, Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language & Literature, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia
Table of Contents1. Introduction: The Anti-Corruption Campaign and “The Chinese Dream”; 2. Debating Governance and the Rule of Law: China’s Narrative and Images in Western Countries; 3. Soft Power and Sharp Power in the Age of Noopolitik; 4. The Framing of Domestic Governance: The China Model and the Chinese Dream; 5. The Framing of The Anti-corruption: When “House of Cards” Meets “In the Name of People”: China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign; 6. Discussion and Conclusion.
