Essay: China’s use of Soft Power in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Introduction:
The motive of this essay is to examine the impact of the soft power that China employed during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Soft power is defined as the influential attitude that governments engage when addressing issues regarding international affairs, ‘the aim of soft power is to have others desiring the outcomes that you want’ Nye (2004). This form of approach highly opposes hard power; hard power being the approach which strives to intimidate opponents in international relations, mainly through the use of military threats. Soft power can be used to accomplish a multitude of tasks; however China used the influence soft power to attain a very specific goal through the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The People’s Republic of China and its Relations with Soft Power.
The People’s Republic of China can be defined as an Authoritarian state, since it; restricts freedom of thought and action and has a government which is composed of a small elite group which doesn’t allow other political parties to oppose its reign over the leadership of China. Authoritarian states are perceived very negatively in other regions of the world, mainly in the Western States. These states tend to have a very pessimistic view on China, as they express more humanistic, liberal and democratic ideals.
When compared to other countries, most notably the Western States (which excel in the use of soft power as an alternative to hard power), China is as a relatively weak country which lacks progress when concerned with soft power. Worden argues that; ‘many observers tend to exaggerate China’s rising influence, because they focus solely on its military might or economic expansion, ignoring its lack of soft power, a result of its moral poverty’ (Worden, 2008, p. 111). This means that although China has suffered an exponential growth from both a military and economic perspective, it is still lacking behind from a moral and humanistic point of view. This is evident in China’s political scene, since it suffers from corruption, inequality, and a lack of democracy, human rights and rule of law.
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
China strived to use the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as a medium by which they could employ soft power to impress other countries which might have negative perspectives on them. Such a medium offered prospects of bolstering their public image which would consequentially enhance their political and economical possibilities.
By hosting the Olympic Games, China sought out to achieve 4 main objectives;
1. China wanted to be perceived as a country that highly regards its populous and also as a country which strives to construct a stable society, to give its citizens a better future. Through offering such an insight, China wanted to gain recognition of the inner workings of its political systems and policies.
2. China wanted to be understood as both a stable and a reliable economic partner which is responsible for its economy and its economic power alike. A rising economic power which other countries shouldn’t fear, but which would envision as a possible economic partner.
3. Beijing wanted to portray China as both a trustworthy and a responsible member of the international political community, which is capable of and is willing to contribute actively to strive and achieve world peace.
4. China wanted its culture to be acknowledged as very vibrant and unique culture, which is full of life and which bears a long and ancient history.
China sought out to achieve such goals through promoting itself as a country which encourages public diplomacy, thus giving it a more modernistic image which highly differentiates from its negative history.
The Beijing Olympic Committee (BOC) utilized three themes for the Olympics; Green Olympics, Humanistic Olympics and High-Tech Olympics as means to promote public diplomacy and to give China a more liberal, humanistic branding. To accomplish such a task, China allocated Beijing’s locals to new areas, for they were envisioned as eyesores which would disrupt commerce and affect the Olympic spectators in a negative way. China then proceeded to give a very alluring introductory speech, which captivated a lot of individuals from all nations worldwide.
China portrayed itself as a modernistic nation through various project and endeavors. Such an aim was to intertwine their technological and design advancements and their rich culture and ancient history together and to manifest them in physical form for public display. An example of such a project is the Olympic Stadium known as the Bird’s Nest, its highly detailed and intricate design pictured modernity perfectly. Another project of equal wonder and beauty is the aquatic centre were the swimming related events where hosted, the Water Cube.
The aftermath of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Despite having a very effective opening speech, China was subject to contradiction on multiple occasions. There were multiple scandals which concerned Chinese athlete qualifications, the audiences were full with trained Chinese supporters who were forced to be there by their government, the military police created a heavy aura of oppression, while some aspects of the opening ceremonies were distorted and manipulated. Such contradictions and scandals tarnished China’s image and gave other countries valid incentives to be increasingly skeptical towards China.
Although China tried its best to put forth such an image, public diplomacy doesn’t solely concern itself with the display of one’s country, public diplomacy must be backed up by credibility that counts, factual data. The Olympics served as a medium to pave the path towards public diplomacy and the development of more liberal and democratic ideals to be implemented in China’s government. However, although some minor changes took effect, such as media censorship relaxation, China eventually reverted back to its old self once the Olympics were over, this left many prospects for substantial change to occur completely demolished.
Conclusion:
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were to be used as a medium for China to strengthen bonds with other countries and to erase all prejudices which were formed by China’s oppressive past. China strived for modernity, to further integrate and conform to the Western States. However, not much progress was done due to China’s moral and political regression after that the Olympic Games had passed. For China to truly progress and gain soft power it must abide by liberal and democratic values, especially in the public sphere. Through adopting such values, China will consequentially adopt further acceptance by the Western states, which promote and embrace such values.