(26/60) Eight Ways China is Shaping the World this Month using Soft Power (Feb. ‘23)
Every month we highlight 8 Chinese global soft power actions shaping the world. This month, we personally visited China’s Humanitarian response in Turkiye which providing more insights into China’s UN engagement. This month’s report also focuses on Chinese rail connecting Singapore and Portugal, Chinese Aid to Syria, the first Chinese metros in Europe, Rail travel to Moscow, Chinese video games’ global success, the traveler’s legacy of the Laos line, a cooperation between stock exchanges, and China’s emerging leadership in technology.
Previous Reports: https://china2025.medium.com/
These reports run through China’s current 5 year plan (until 2025), and are intended to: i) Capture the acceleration of a more multipolar world. ii) Show the importance of soft power in China’s growth overseas. iii) Strengthen East-West and South-South understanding.
This is based on tertiary sources and in-country local accounts.
February 2023
1) China leading tech race in 37 of 44 fields. This month an Australian study concluded that China leads in 37 of 44 technologies including batteries, advanced radio-frequency communications (5G and 6G) and hypersonic. The report states that “China has built the foundation to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains.” Bloomberg also reported that of the top 20 companies investing in R&D, 4 are now Chinese (Huawei, ByteDance, TenCent, and Alibaba). This growth in Chinese R&D and technology is a much needed contribution to the world of science and technology, to be recognized as a positive soft power output.
2) Laos: the Chinese-built rail bridge has connected Singapore to Portugal. In another era, this will be heralded as a herculean accomplishment connecting civilizations.
One of the most understated yet important connecting forces , has been the final link between Laos and China. This was completed one year ago this month and the dividends have begun to show. Now, with this link, a train can travel from Singapore to Portugal. The sheer conceptual breadth provides opportunity and connectivity. As the map above shows, there is also increasing momentum in South-East Asia with the Myanmar-China train line (conceptualized over 15 years ago) seemingly closer to construction. Our old friends from Yangon this month have said that the realization is gaining momentum, and other accounts from the China-Myanmar border have confirmed there is far more in border infrastructure which is seen as a precursor for increased formalized trade traffic.
3) Chinese support to the UN and Global Humanitarian Disasters (Turkiye): We visited Turkiye this month after the earthquake and saw firsthand the extent of Chinese support to both Turkiye and Syria across the border. After speaking with several refugees and IDPs (Internally Displaced people) who were using the Chinese made tents and heating provisions, everyone recognized the Chinese were amongst the first to deliver essential shelter items (after the Turkish Red Crescent, and well before the UNHCR). The quality of the tents were also particularly appreciated as they had the outlet for a heating stove and also had a proper waterproof floor, and also the location of the tens were not always found directly by the road side for “visibility” or “branding”, but instead far removed from public view and for the more marginalized beneficiaries in defacto settlements instead of just official camps.
China continues to grow its support in international assistance and, with increasingly quick responses since these reports began in January 2021. In addition to China’s support COVID response, humanitarian interventions with in-kind support items have reached over 40 countries, and the items are mostly focused on shelter (tents) and NFI (non food items). This does not include the contributions China makes to the UN bilaterally.
China continues to increase it’s financial commitment to the UN, getting close to the maximum allowed per member state/country of 22% (per UN mandate and regulations). Twenty years ago China gave less than 1%, now it provides 16% as the second largest contributor financially to the UN, and notably, second in terms of peacekeeping budget and first in terms of personnel to UN peacekeeping missions.
Still, Chinese recognition is difficult to see form foreign perspectives, and is also not adequately integrated in the field operations themselves. In areas of crises, the UN’s Aid Coordination system is operating in a legacy approach without inclusion from non-traditional (read: non-Western) door countries which are providing large impact such as, Saudi Aid, Turkiye’s TICA, Kazakhstan Aid (KazAid), Qatar Aid, even KOICA and others. Through several discussions with the UN’s Aid coordination mechanism (OCHA) in various countries, we have concluded that UN-OCHA is not prioritizing these new aid actors in their coordination efforts. As a result these actors, including China’s CIDCA / China Aid are choosing to work directly with local authorities and local organizations, instead of financing OCHA’s CERF Fund (China has given 500k a year since 2007). This is a result of a lack of internal capacity of UN-OCHA its legacy coordination systems which are not optimal for the growth of new actors to the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises. Still, China’s Assistance — and its corresponding soft power — is well recognized across humanitarian crises across Western Asia and Africa by local beneficiaries, by government official, and local aid agencies and readers of these reports and local media.
4) Chinese support in Global Humanitarian Disasters (Syria). Across the border from Turkiye, the response has been entirely different as the international community has been limited by a lack of funding and interest from Western donors, reminding us of the sheer dependency of Western NGOs on their donors and their constituents. Still, in Syria, various governments were providing assistance as the formalized international aid systems deliberated and took 7 days to send their first convoy. China’s CIDCA Humanitarian Assistance arrived on the third day and we have received first hand accounts from the Sun Tzy Kyi Foundation among others of the early commitment and deployment — well before any UN assistance was offered.
5) Chinese metros arrive to Europe: This month the EU has introduced the first Chinese-made metros. Portugal’s second largest city (Porto) will begin service of these trains from May this year — with deliveries finalized by September. This is yet another segment of Chinese transportation being utilized and ultimately trusted by Western countries. Transportation is one of a key tenet of soft power because it invokes populations trusting their own well-being and safety with the manufacturer — and knowingly or not — with the vehicle’s country of origin’s safety protocols and systems.
6) Chinese video game growth: its first global hit. Genshin Impact. GI is a Chinese video game quietly in the top three most downloaded games in the world. It is a highly interactive game requiring engagement and cooperation among players and it also offers in-game translation. The game includes several Chinese cultural and language learnings, while also being wholly multicultural. The remarkable soft power accomplishment of this game is that it is and the first game which is both a success in China and also internationally with the majority of its users being overseas. This is potentially the most submersible and engaging platform for Chinese culture in the world today and is worth watching and appreciating.
7) EU-Russia-China Rail: Supply chains and the trading of goods between Europe and China continue to increase — including by rail which now comprises nearly 5% of all freight (sea makes up the high majority despite taking 42 days vs 16–18). Some items, such as rare earths and medical equipment need to be transported on quicker supply routes and use rail. Nearly all rail between the U and Russia still goes through China, yet oddly, there hasn’t been a direct rail link from Beijing to Moscow for freight. Until this month. This month saw the opening of a train station between Beijing and Tianjian, continuing all the way to Moscow. It will take 17 days, and is an alternative to the usual shared seaborne route out of Tianjian requires offloading and onloading. More trains connecting the continent means more trade, relationships, and cooperation — all elements which underpin soft power’s growth across Eurasia.
8) The exchange of stock exchanges: Saudi Arabi’s Tadawul and Hong Kong are building bridges. This month a MoU was signed between the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange (Taqawul) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This builds build upon the positive meetings in December between China and Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, and offers insights into the potential of Saudi companies listing on Hong Kong’s Stock exchange. This is exciting as it may allow Saudi companies to be traded by mainland investors through this ‘connect scheme’. This step towards viable cross listings is striking as commercial exchanges are both a precursor of soft power growth, and often a result of soft power’s inroads as well.
