This empirical work illuminates how China uses the higher education mechanism in South Asia to advance its national interests, and investigates the outcomes for China including both the challenges and opportunities. Using a soft power theoretical framework, the book employs the case study of Nepal, a South Asian country of a profound geostrategic value for the two competing powers of China and India. Illustrating how higher education is the mechanism for achieving soft power goals, it draws on data analysis based on archival sources, and interviews with China and South Asia experts, including academia and politico-bureaucratic elites, as well as interviews with Nepalese students and alumni. Importantly though, this book advances an innovative conceptual model of geointellect to trace the evolving dimensions of China's global dominance in higher education, research, and innovation paradigm, especially in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative and ultimately reveals how foreign policy and higher education policy reinforce each other in the context of China. China's Soft Power and Higher Education in South Asia provides an empirically rich resource for students and scholars of education, international relations, Asian studies and China's soft power.

This empirical work illuminates how China uses the higher education mechanism in South Asia to advance its national interests and investigates the outcomes for China, including both challenges and opportunities. Using a soft power theoretical framework, this book employs the case study of Nepal, a South Asian country of profound geostrategic value for the two competing powers of China and India. Illustrating how higher education is the mechanism for achieving soft power goals, it draws on data analysis based on archival sources and interviews with China and South Asia experts, including academics and politico-bureaucratic elites, as well as interviews with Nepalese students and alumni. Importantly though, this book advances an innovative conceptual model of geointellect to trace the evolving dimensions of China’s global dominance in higher education, research, and innovation paradigm, especially in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative and ultimately reveals how foreign policy and higher education policy reinforce each other in the context of China. China’s Soft Power and Higher Education in South Asia provides an empirically rich resource for students and scholars of education, international relations, Asian studies, and China’s soft power.

The book addresses the issues of China’s soft power in Southeast Asia during the rise of China. This soft power includes Chinese language education and popular culture. With regard to Chinese education, prior to the rise of China, Chinese schools were catered to mainly overseas Chinese children. Non-Chinese seldom received Chinese education. However, the rise of China and the export of Confucius Institutes (CIs) changed the landscape as CIs are meant for the non-Chinese population as well. China’s educational soft power penetrated the larger non-Chinese community, making Chinese soft power more effective. Chinese popular culture has also infiltrated the non-Chinese population. Various chapters in this book show that rising China’s soft power in Southeast Asia has grown quite significantly, particularly in terms of the Chinese language and Chinese popular culture. Nevertheless, its popularity still lags behind American soft power. The Chinese language is still not as popular as the English language. The same could also be said for Chinese popular culture. The growth of China’s soft power faces tremendous challenges in the Southeast Asian region. Its further growth would depend on China’s continuous economic power and cordial relations with the Southeast Asian countries.

China's Soft Power Diplomacy: Myth or Reality? examines the Chinese version of soft power both in conceptual and operational terms, and explores its myriad implications for India, in particular, and South Asia in general. The book investigates how the institutionalization of cultural soft power would help China project its image as a benign and responsible stakeholder in order to reshape the current international system with its notion of “harmonious world order,” based on Chinese characteristics. This book traces the origin of China’s engagement with South Asian states from historical, political, economic, and security perspectives in order to better understand the dynamics of its South Asia policy. It illuminates the core reasons to explain why China’s soft power initiatives in South Asia are least appealing and convincing to India while they are welcomed by smaller nations of the region. More pertinently, the book addresses complexities and nuances of China’s soft power instruments given the psycho-cultural and geopsychological peculiarities of the South Asian region. For this, it focuses on how the Sino-Pakistan axis constitutes a potential challenge to India’s leadership role and influence in South Asia.

This Element presents an overarching analysis of Chinese visions and practices of soft power. Maria Repnikova's analysis introduces the Chinese theorization of the idea of soft power, as well as its practical implementation across global contexts. The key channels or mechanisms of China's soft power examined include Confucius Institutes, international communication, education and training exchanges, and public diplomacy spectacles. The discussion concludes with suggestions for new directions for the field, drawing on the author's research on Chinese soft power in Africa.

In a world witnessing the transformative rise of China, the intricate dynamics of its soft power diplomacy have become a focal point of global attention. As geopolitical landscapes shift, the need to understand how China crafts its foreign policy, especially through the strategic use of soft power, becomes imperative. Soft Power and Diplomatic Strategies in Asia and the Middle East is a crucial resource to unraveling these complexities. The book addresses the post-COVID-19 changes in China's soft power application, providing an in-depth, comparative analysis of its diplomatic endeavors in the Middle East and East Asia. By exploring cultural exchanges, economic collaborations, and religious engagements, the book offers nuanced insights into China's strategies, making it an indispensable tool for academics, policymakers, diplomats, and those intrigued by contemporary geopolitics. This book aims to dissect the multifaceted approaches China employs to achieve its diplomatic objectives. From cultural initiatives to economic partnerships and religious engagements, the book unravels the adaptability and complexity of China's foreign policy mechanisms. Its primary objective is to provide a comparative framework for studying China's soft power diplomacy, filling a notable gap in existing scholarship. The interdisciplinary approach ensures rich, diverse analyses, fostering dialogues across international relations, Asian studies, and political science. By offering new theories, methodologies, and empirical data, the book not only challenges existing notions but also sparks further academic inquiry into the strategic use of soft power in foreign policy.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of China's use of "soft power" and assesses the impact this is having on the world and on the process of international relations.

New Chinese migration is a recent development that has just entered an initial phase. An overarching theme and conclusion across the sixteen chapters in this volume is that China’s policy towards Chinese migrants has changed from period to period, and it is still too early for us to determine if Beijing will continue to pursue the policy of luoye guigen (return to original roots) or will revert to one of luodi shenggen (sink into local roots). The various chapters also show that the profile, motivations and outlooks of xin yimin (new Chinese migrants) have become more diverse, while local reactions to these new migrants have become less accommodating with increasing nationalism.

Over the last decade, many local students have preferred to study overseas. This has caused governments to announce the creation of programs and developments in the higher education sector to upgrade South-East Asia to a leading education hub. Moreover, many governments declared that they would work on the insurance of learning to increase the quality of the degrees and the teaching itself. This has led many to question the results of these declarations. Higher Education Challenges in South-East Asia provides an overview of what has been happening over the last ten years in higher education in South-East Asia. It also works to solve the challenges in modern education such as the impacts of digitalization, globalization, and Generation Y and Z learning styles. Covering topics that include globalization, educational technologies, and comparative teaching, this book impacts academic institutions, policymakers, government officials, university and college administrators and leaders, academicians, researchers, and students.

The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power (2nd Edition) offers a comprehensive, detailed, and ground-breaking examination of soft power – a key factor in cultural diplomacy, cultural relations, and public diplomacy. Interrogating soft power as influence, the handbook examines manifestations in media, public mind, policy, and theory – in a fraught geopolitical climate, one demanding reconceptualization of soft power’s role in state and civic society behaviour. Part I provides important new conceptualization and critical analysis of soft power from international relations, philosophical, and other social theoretical perspectives; analyses multiple methods of soft power measurement and makes proposals; and connects soft power innovatively with other concepts Part II addresses soft power and contemporary issues by examining new technology and soft power intentions, soft power and states’ performance during the global pandemic, and soft power and values Part III investigates cases from China, France, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kazhakstan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Türkiye, and the United States – some in combination. This innovative handbook is a definitive resource for inquirers into soft power desiring to familiarize themselves with cutting-edge debates and research. It will be of interest and value to students, researchers, and policy makers working in cultural relations, international communication, international relations, public diplomacy, and contiguous fields.