A New Face of China: Sharp Power Strategy and its Global Effects

Abstract

China’s rapid emergence as a great power in the world has not only influenced the actions of other countries, but also introduced new concepts to academic discourses. One of these concepts is sharp power, which has entered academia to theoretically explain China and Russia’s rise. More particularly, China’s actions to consolidate its position as a great power and to restore its image, have given rise to this concept. Its influence in other countries is intangible in nature and tools, but it has great tangible effects. At first, this article seeks to examine sharp power as a new concept and explain China’s influential behaviours. Sec-ond, it will study the rationale of China’s sharp power and then scrutinize its indicators in the world. The paper assumes that China has infiltrated the world by using intangible but powerful tools and is consolidating its foothold in different countries.

Keywords

• china
• sharp power
• hard power
• soft power
• influence
• strategy