Soft Power In China

Today, many countries have indigenous species. Examples can be found across the globe, starting with the American bald eagle, Australian Kangaroos and China’s Giant Pandas these are just one of the many species that are seen as indigenous ones. This research will focus upon the People’s Republic of China, and their tradition usage of Giant Pandas as a tool of “soft power” tactics. Scholars defined it as Panda diplomacy. Beside the fact that Pandas are one of the main symbols of China, they are also seen as a peace and friendship messenger in the relationships between Chinese government and foreign officials. Since 685, when the empress Wu Zeitan gave two pandas to the Japanese tsar, no one knew that they will become a symbol of Chinese diplomacy.

This research will argue that” pandas serve as an important tool of soft power that enables China to have an effect on wider audience in foreign countries”.

Literature review

There are many books and articles written on the topic of soft power tactics and how certain countries tend to use them. For this research, I will focus upon several articles. First of all on the article by Joseph S. Nye published in 1990, “In Bound to Lead: the Changing Nature of American Power” when the notion of soft power was first introduced, Nye claimed that “a country may achieve the outcomes it prefers in world politics because other countries want to follow it or have agreed to a system that produces such effects” (Nye, 1990). In his later articles Nye developed this notion of soft power and claimed that this “face of power” is the ability to get “others to want what you want”, depends actually on “the attraction of one’s idea or on the ability to set the political agenda in a way that shapes the preferences that others express” (Nye, 1990). The reason why this article is relevant to the topic of Panda Diplomacy is because it provides valuable explanation of just how the soft power is important in contemporary

Based on data collected from newspaper articles and public opinion polls in China and other countries such as USA, Soviet Union, Scotland and Taiwan I will examine several major panda diplomacy practises that occurred in the 21th century. Moreover, there will be a table that provides a list of pandas that have been given to foreign countries; this data is collected form the Chengdu Research.
Expected findings and conclusions
This research will try to prove that the role of panda diplomacy today is one of the main sources of China’s soft power, and this diplomatic approach enables China to achieve political and economic goals. Moreover, it will try to prove that panda diplomacy will continue to be China’s main foreign policy in the 21th