Understanding sino-Africa engagement through soft power indices

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present another analytical angle that has thus far been absent from the current discourse on soft power, namely the soft power indices. This chapter originates from an observation that although there is general agreement that it is necessary 'to develop techniques to gauge the efficacy of soft power, so as to do a better job identifying targets, assessing changes in views, and specifying policy connections', there have been few attempts to measure soft power and even fewer to analyse them. The chapter addresses this gap by firstly presenting the background and composition of the major soft power indices. Secondly, it analyses how China has been ranked on these indices and the domains where China has excelled. Thirdly, the chapter turns to an examination of the Sino-African engagement through the composition elements of the indices. Fourthly, it examines how FOCAC themes have evolved over the years and whether the evolution reflects a greater emphasis on areas contributing to China's soft power. Lastly, the chapter concludes by proposing FOCAC priorities post-2015 that could benefit Sino-Africa engagement in general and which China could deploy to achieve a higher soft power ranking.