CHINA’S USE OF SOFT POWER AS A RISING POWER

Abstract

China’s foreign policy has been isolationist for most of the past 100 years.During the past 30 years it has gradually shifted to becoming a global power in international relations; in the process it has joined several multilateral organisations and played a key role in establishing its prominence within these organisations.This article focuses on China’s use of “soft power” to conscientiously and strategically enhance its global appeal. China’s diplomatic strategy uses multilateralism, economic diplomacy and a good-neighbour policy as three forms of soft power in order to increase its attractiveness in the international community and, together with its hard power, to manage its rise as a world power.