23.3.08

Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World



Kurlantzick, J. 2007 Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World, New Haven and London: Yale University Press

It gives for a very entertaining and balanced read though more seemingly aimed as being a wake-up call for United States' policy-makers. It is very critical of Beijing in some aspects but the author also claims that "Beijing may be warming to the idea that Chinese support for authoritarian regimes can create instability - one that in the long run does not benefit China itself". That is a view I share. Curiously, the book has been a victim of the pace of events regarding the issue, now that China's "charm" has taken a bit of a blow from the whole Tibet situation. Let's see how the near future and the whole olympics affair unfold.

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