China’s Soft Power Diplomacy: Myth or Reality?( Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, summer 2017)

By Professor B.M. Jain

Professor B.M. Jain examines the Chinese version of soft power both in conceptual and operational terms and explores its myriad implications for India in particular and South Asia in general. The book investigates how the institutionalization of cultural soft power would help China project its image as a benign and responsible stakeholder in order to reshape the current international system with its notion of “harmonious world order” based on Chinese characteristics. This book traces the origin of China’s engagement with South Asian states from historical, political, economic, and security perspectives in order to better understand the dynamics of its South Asian policy. The book illuminates the core reasons to explain why China’s soft power initiatives in South Asia are scarcely appealing and convincing to India while they are welcomed by smaller nations of the region. More pertinently, the book addresses complexities and nuances of China’s soft power instruments in light of psycho-cultural and geopsychological peculiarities of South Asian region. For this, he focuses on why and how Sino-Pakistan axis constitutes a potential and direct challenge to India’s role and influence in South Asia. This is a wake up call to the strong leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

About the Writer : Professor of Political Science and Editor-in-Chief of Indian Journal of Asian Affairs.Post-doctoral Research Experience and Specialization: over two- decade in the field of comparative politics of South Asia, ethno-politics, global and regional security , nuclear proliferation and arms control, conflict and peace studies in the context of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East Asia.