Soft power competition is not a zero-sum game

It is interesting to observe the subtle psyche of China observers who tend to scrutinize every move in China's neighborhood diplomacy. The over interpretation is probably inevitable, especially at a time when Washington implements its "pivot to Asia" but cannot afford micromanagement as it did in the Cold War era.

An opinion article published on The Nation website Monday, "Gold medal for China's sporting soft power," pointed out that "China was a big winner at the recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, and it wasn't even competing." The reason, according to the article, is that China offered special support to host country Myanmar, such as training local athletes, offering technical assistance and training facilities, and helped design and engineer the SEA Games flagship stadium in Nay Pyi Taw.

The article concludes that "In the completely unofficial category of 'greatest use of sporting soft power' China easily took the gold medal," but does not forget to point out thorny problems with such soft power, including "strong anti-Chinese sentiment" in China's neighboring countries, including Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Worries expressed in this article are not isolated. Several China observers argue that Beijing faces the daunting challenge of how to explain to "the recipients of its largesse" that China's intentions are purely commercial, not political. But this is a concern more of Washington, rather than China's neighbors.

In fact, months ahead of the SEA Games, worrying voices had been heard from Myanmar media outlets that the country was severely underprepared for the games, though the Thein Sein administration sought to show the image of a new, reformist government through the event.

Myanmar did face the lack of funding, technology, and hosting experience. The agreements that Myanmar signed with China over receiving the latter's specific assistance to ensure a successful sports event are a part of the two's friendly bilateral relationship that has lasted for decades and was upgraded into a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in 2011.

There is no doubt that the US "rebalance" strategy will bring some challenges to China's neighborhood diplomacy, and this is already taking place.

Nevertheless, the zero-sum mentality is just not so popular among the Chinese. It is too simple to view any possible interest overlapping between the US and China with the assumption that they will only offset each other's influence.

It was noticed that during his December trip to Vietnam and the Philippines, US Secretary of State John Kerry offered an additional $32.5 million naval aid to two nations undergoing tensions with China.

Critics argued Kerry should not send such wrong signals about the triangular ties between the US, China, and other regional players. Signals like this are no good omen for Asia, if they indeed mirror Washington's long lasting zero-sum mindset.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/soft-power-competition-is-not-a-zero-sum-game/