Analyzing China's Ascendance: A Political Science Essay on Soft Power

This essay examines the assertion that China's rise on the world stage is primarily peaceful, considering its historical context and the influence of its foreign policy. It explores the concept of 'soft power,' tracing its roots back to the Zhou dynasty and the impact of Confucianism. The essay analyzes China's transformation from an isolated state to a regional power, highlighting its utilization of soft power strategies in international relations. It also addresses criticisms and debates surrounding China's approach to global issues and its increasing influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The essay concludes by affirming that China's ascent to global power in recent times has been largely facilitated through the implementation of its soft power strategies.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of the following paper is to determine the statement that the rise of
ascendance of China in the world stage is mainly a peaceful rise. It has to be remembered that
the China has risen as a global power under the Communist activities in the country. The
question whether it was peaceful or not will have to be assessed in this paper. The chaos within
the country in the first half of 20th century will have to be kept in mind in this context.
Ascendance of China
The foreign policy of a country is an important deciding factor in judging the place of the
country on the global stage. According to the author, the soft power was first implemented by the
Zhou dynasty (1122-256 BC) (Munk-Petersen, 2013). This use of the soft power to run the
nation had been used by the earlier mentioned dynasty by giving it more priority over the use of
the hard power, The effect of the Confuciasm has been rendered as one of the most important
factors for the country to achieve a self-cultivating prospect by their leaders. The implementation
of the soft power could be described better by ascribing it to the ‘rule of virtue’ by the
practitioners of Confuciasm.
The main management challenge that China faced was due to its inability to conquer the
neighboring countries though there were many in number. However, the current international
status of China is not something similar as the previous one (Munk-Petersen, 2013). The rise of
China as an international power has been considered as a radical change in the global position of
the country from all the aspects like socio-economic, political, business related and others. In the
earlier times China was considered to be an isolated state in the global premises but it has
evolved to rise up as a regional state power in the 20th and 21st Centuries. The current factors of

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International Relations have stated that the soft power of China has been one of their main
strategies to grow in all the regimes in the world.
China has come up to be one of the strongest powers in the Asia- Pacific region. It has
also been stated that China is also a power that is growing its powers all over the world as well.
On the contrary, Minxin Pei has pointed out an important fact in this context and his statement
can be quoted here: “The only thing rising faster than China is the hype about China’ (Munk-
Petersen, 2013). Most experts are quite astonished to see the rapid progress of China in the
economic growth of the world and political issues. The term ‘soft power’ was coined by Joseph
Nye. He had coined this term to show how United States was able to exert its influence in the
global economics and global politics. United States had been very clever in utilizing their
resources to use it for the betterment of their chances to lead the international affairs. China also
has been doing the same to keep up their leading position in the global matters. The Chinese
scholars and the policy makers have been very alert when dealing with the various global
political and economic issues (Munk-Petersen, 2013).
However, some critics have identified the fact that China never claimed that they
implemented the soft power. The Chinese power holders had the apprehension of the Western
dominance of their country. This worked as a very pivotal factor for the implementation of soft
power (Munk-Petersen, 2013). The soft power has been a much debated subject all over the
country and China has been able to pose the threats to the other international powers indeed. The
peaceful rise of China can be linked with the implementation of the soft power in the best ways.
This factor about the soft power can be found largely in the native Chinese literature as well. The
application of the soft power in China has been well evident since the several multinational
organizations have been expanding in China for the benefits (Munk-Petersen, 2013). This new

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international system of China and its rising control in the global matters has been much
important for the overall success for the country in diplomatic issues as well.
Conclusion
The paper can be concluded by saying that China has been rising to be a global power in
the recent times by implicating their soft power. This soft power came into practice since the
Zhou dynasty by being influenced by the Confuciasm. However, the increase of power of China
has given them an advantage to place Asia-Pacific region to be a place to be considered as a
powerful region in the country.

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References
Munk-Petersen, M. (2013). Soft Power in China. [online] Projekter.aau.dk. Available at:
https://projekter.aau.dk/projekter/files/76794829/Soft_Power_in_China.pdf [Accessed 30
Oct. 2018].