The Foreign Service Journal, May 2005

avoid being drawn into a Chinese sphere of influence, ASEAN is seek- ing to maintain close ties with the United States, and that most ASEAN states believe that “U.S. predomi- nance is conducive to the regional balance and stability.” China’s expanded engagement with ASEAN and the SCO reveals a key element in Beijing’s enhanced regional profile: it has both multilat- eral and normative dimensions and reflects the conver- gence of views among states in these organizations about the importance of cooperative security and conflict man- agement. It also reflects an increased appreciation by the Chinese government of the importance of norms and “soft power” in diplomacy. Chinese print media, televi- sion, music, food and popular culture are spreading around Asia as never before. So, too, are Chinese tourists fanning out across the region: 800,000 Chinese toured Thailand in 2002, while more than 600,000 visited Singapore in 2004. Beijing’s growing appreciation of soft-power diplomacy is also evident in China’s efforts to popularize Chinese culture throughout the region and to train future generations of intellectuals, technicians and polit- ical elites in its universities and tech- nical colleges. China increasingly sees higher education as an instru- ment of statecraft (as well as a source of foreign exchange). During the 2003 academic year, 77,628 for- eign students were seeking advanced degrees in China’s universities — approximately 80 percent of whom came from other Asian countries. South Korea sent by far the most students, 35,363, while Japan sent 12,765, Vietnam 3,487, Indonesia 2,563, Thailand 1,554 and Nepal 1,199. In the same year, only 3,693 students from the United States attended Chinese colleges and universities. F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 33 2000 N. 14th Street ■ Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Telephone (703) 797-3259 Fax (703) 524-7559 Tollfree (800) 424-9500 Long gone are the days of inept and indoctrinated Chinese diplomats cut off from their resident societies.