China using COVID-19 to increase its soft-power

 By: Kyle Fletcher

    

    In politics soft-power is the ability to attract and co-opt. Soft power involves attraction the more a country has what you need the more powerful they are. China is assisting countries and giving them resources to aid them with the struggle of covid-19. Some people see this as a good thing with countries with few resources getting helped. Others however see this as China taking advantage of a situation they created to gain more soft-power. People in the west see this more as a problem as there is now a competition between the U.S and China on who will be the bigger help to countries. This is a problem because to a lot of people what China is doing is covering their mishaps from the early days of the disease and whitewashing everything by showing that they are a country that is handling covid so well that they can afford to help other countries. 

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201802/23/WS5a8f59a9a3106e7dcc13d7b8.html

 Discussion questions:

1. Do you think what China is doing should be recognized and brought out into the light?

2. How will the balance of power change if China continues to gain soft-power?

Source: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/04/29/covid-19-and-chinas-soft-power-ambitions/