• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "Josh Kurlantzick"
  ],
  "type": "other",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "asia",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "AP",
  "programs": [
    "Asia"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "China",
    "Southeast Asia",
    "East Asia"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Democracy",
    "Economy",
    "Trade",
    "Military",
    "Domestic Politics"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

Other

China's Charm: Implications of Chinese Soft Power

While China’s rising soft power could prove benign or even beneficial in some respects, it could prove disastrous for Southeast Asia—for democratization, for anticorruption initiatives, and for good governance.

Link Copied
By Josh Kurlantzick
Published on Jun 5, 2006
Program mobile hero image

Program

Asia

The Asia Program in Washington studies disruptive security, governance, and technological risks that threaten peace, growth, and opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region, including a focus on China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula.

Learn More

In a new Policy Brief, China’s Charm: Implications of Chinese Soft Power, Carnegie Visiting Scholar Joshua Kurlantzick analyzes China’s influence and policy tools of soft power and argues that, while China’s rising soft power could prove benign or even beneficial in some respects, it could prove disastrous for Southeast Asia—for democratization, for anticorruption initiatives, and for good governance.

Over the past decade China has downplayed its hard power in Southeast Asia, instead creating a strategy to build its soft power. For the first time in post-WWII history, the United States may be facing a situation in which another country’s appeal outstrips its own in an important region, a change sure to shock the United States. Before China’s appeal spreads to other parts of the developing world, U.S. policy makers need to understand how China exerts soft power, if China’s soft power could be dangerous to developing nations, and whether elements of China’s charm could threaten U.S. interests. 

Click on the link above for the full text of this Carnegie publication.

Joshua Kurlantzick is a visiting scholar in the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

About the Author

Josh Kurlantzick

Former Visiting Scholar, China Program

A special correspondent for The New Republic, a columnist for Time, and a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, Kurlantzick assesses China’s relationship with the developing world, including Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

    Recent Work

  • In The Media
    Fighting Terrorism With Terrorists

      Josh Kurlantzick

  • Other
    Beijing’s Safari: China’s Move into Africa and Its Implications for Aid, Development, and Governance

      Josh Kurlantzick

Josh Kurlantzick
Former Visiting Scholar, China Program
Josh Kurlantzick
Political ReformDemocracyEconomyTradeMilitaryDomestic PoliticsChinaSoutheast AsiaEast Asia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • silhouetted figure watching a row of TVs.
    Commentary
    Emissary
    9/11 at 25: A Reading List for Understanding the War on Terror

    The books, podcasts, and films that explain the world it made.

      • Andrew Leber

      Andrew Leber

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Animal Tested by Leonid Bershidsky: A Utopian Novel for the Instagram Age

    Blurring the line between humans and animals is a long-standing tradition in social utopian prose. In his latest novel, Leonid Bershidsky reminds us that in social experiments, people are often treated no differently than animals.

      Alexander Baunov

  • Aerial view of shipping containers at a port
    Commentary
    Emissary
    The Fallout of the U.S.–Canada Trade War Won’t Be Limited to North America

    U.S. trading partners in Asia are closely watching the dispute for signs of how it may affect their own interests.

      • Barbara Weisel

      Barbara Weisel

  • US President Donald Trump waves as he leaves after speaking at a campaign rally
    Paper
    America Walks Away from Global Democracy

    By abandoning past U.S. pro-democracy policies and adopting several lines of pro-autocratic action, the Trump administration has fundamentally repositioned the United States vis-à-vis democracy in the world.

      Thomas Carothers

  • olice officers and residents stand in front of a shopping mall while a large outdoor screen broadcasts a military welcome ceremony featuring U.S. and Chinese flags for U.S. President Donald Trump hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on May 14, 2026
    Paper
    American Power: A View from China

    Chinese strategists are once again debating whether American power is declining and whether U.S. hegemony is experiencing irreversible decay.

      Wu Xinbo

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.