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CRS on China’s “Soft Power”

05.06.08 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

China’s foreign policy goals and actions in Asia, Africa and Latin America are assessed in a new report to Congress (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“The study opens with an overview section discussing China’s presumed foreign policy goals, the attractions and limitations of China’s ‘soft power,’ and the implications and options for the United States. The memorandum proceeds to an analysis of China’s relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Southwest Pacific, Japan and South Korea, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The study was released by Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“It is my hope that this study will inform debate about China and help point the way toward policies that will not only respond to those Chinese actions that are at odds with U.S. interests, but will also build on the many common interests created by China’s enhanced integration with the international community,” Sen. Biden wrote in a foreword.

See “China’s Foreign Policy and ‘Soft Power’ in South America, Asia, and Africa,” April 2008.

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