ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the dichotomy of China’s development and humanitarian aid efforts in the context of its own increasingly authoritarian assertion of power. It asks how domestic and international (inward- and outward-facing) identities of the People’s Republic have shaped and been shaped by the complex geopolitical backdrop including the COVID global pandemic, China’s attempt to reorder global norms, and the continuing discourse on China’s rise. With the disruptive effects of the pandemic, this chapter draws on global perceptions about China’s expansive use of soft power strategies through discursive analysis as well as investigates the changing nature of geopolitics and the post-war world order. This chapter illuminates the potential implications of an authoritarian model for global governance, including discourse analysis of paradigmatic shifts in norms, through examination of China’s soft power strategies in the Belt and Road Initiative and vaccine diplomacy. Initial findings show that the success of Chinese attempts to mediate influence in international narratives is largely buffered by the anarchic international system in which state sovereignty is still a determinative factor. The dialectic formed from the divergences and convergences of the anarchic international system is a key factor explored and explained in understanding Chinese assertions of soft power.
