This webinar was hosted SOAS University of London China Institute on December 8, 2021.
Description
China’s resurgence as a great power is likely to mark the first half of the 21st century. Xi Jinping’s 'China Dream of national rejuvenation’ is not just about reasserting China’s place in the Asia Pacific region. It is about resurrecting the greatness of China in history, in moments when its grandeur was recognised and admired by the rest of the world that mattered to China. It was, in that sense, global, rather than regional in scope. It is also not just about projecting hard power, Xi wants China to command respect and admiration from others or, in contemporary language, to build up Chinese soft power. How successful has China been in this endeavour? Is there a better way to ascertain this than hearing from those whose countries are affected by the resurgence of China? To achieve this objective, this conference will use the PechaKucha format to bring out the perceptions of China’s rise from countries that stretch from the eastern extremity of Asia, through the Middle East to the west coast of Africa. They also happen to be the regions that form the focus of study at SOAS.