Journal of Australia-China Affairs 2014

and strength of its ethics to shape an attractiveness, influence and persuasiveness that transcends national boundaries. The PRC’s defense and foreign polices and practices also possess appeal and persuasiveness; they are key elements of Chinese military soft power. Sixty years ago, China declared its Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. This is an independent diplomatic policy with Chinese characteristics, expressing China’s goodwill to achieve regional peace, development and cooperaton. In current times, when the power of nations is changing, these principles are especially important in international relations management and international friendly cooperaton; more and more nations accept these principles. On the other hand, since modern China has suffered invasion and plunder, and was several times on the brink of destruction. Chinese people and the Chinese army abhor war and invasion, and they will now and forever do their best to make a stable world and regional peace. China will unswervingly pursue its defence policies and advocate the construction of a new international order based upon mutual respect and mutual non-­‐interference. This convinces those who desire world peace, especially peoples who have suffered or are suffering wars, to recognise the Chinese army as ‘a mighty and righteous army safeguarding peace’. In recent years, China has positively demonstrated its soft power to the world by carrying out various military practices and missions. Jane Harman points out that, since disasters relief and humanitarian aid directly helps people in need and builds relations between governments and people, they are efficient foreign policy tools that help a country to fully manifest positive military soft power. 6 From the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake to the 2008 Southern China snow disaster, to the large peacekeeping forces that China sends abroad on United Nations Security Council missions, international observers see the efficient and systematic integration and deployment, the noble spirit to bear hardships and the high efficiency in disasters relief of the PLA. They see a shining image of China as a responsible nation; they see different nations and races support the PLA. While the PLA shoulders the responsibility of such ‘public diplomacy’, serving these missions directly links to the world’s understanding and recognition of the PLA and strengthens China’s military soft power. Thus, in order to develop its military soft power, China should first build a positive and attractive image of the PLA. Only through this can China further promote itself to the media and take the initiative to build a positive image on the international stage. To achieve this goal, China should fully study its historic military knowledge and apply this to its modern defence and foreign policies and practices, to continuously enhance its military soft power with Chinese characteristics. Strengthening Promotion Abroad and Agenda-­‐Setting Ability Yi Wenhua, director of the Comrade News agency, believes that in modern informationised warfare, more attention is paid to the conquering of opponents’ spirits. In these wars, journalism and communications, media wars and control over news broadcasting are vital strategic factors. 7 Under present conditions, when China promotes its advanced military culture to the world, it faces rare historic opportunity but also severe challenges. For instance, Western media perpetuate the ‘China threat theory’ and file hostile negative reports about 6 Jane Harman, ‘The Military's Invaluable 'Soft' Power’, The Huffington Post, 18 November 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-­‐jane-­‐harman/the-­‐militarys-­‐invaluable_b_4297452.html. 7 Wenhua Yi, ‘The Effective Dissemination of Military News that Builds the Soft Power of the Chinese Army’, Military Correspondent, June 2008. JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA-CHINA AFFAIRS 139