China’s Unsuccessful Charm Offensive: How South Koreans have Viewed the Rise of China Over the Past Decade

China has launched an international charm offensive in earnest since around 2004. This has consequentially stirred up expensive and intense debates over the effectiveness of China’s soft power and public diplomacy. Yet, to date, no one has investigated the change in public perceptions of China in any particular country since China’s launch of its public diplomacy. In this article, the authors scrutinize South Koreans’ evolving views of China between 2002 and 2017, decipher the factors that have influenced their views of China based on in-depth analysis of various surveys, and consider the relevant opinions of South Korean scholars and the public. The findings suggest that China’s charm offensive has not been effective during the past decade. Not only have South Koreans’ views on China’s global influence deteriorated between 2004 and 2017, but their favorable opinion of China has not improved over the same period. In terms of soft power, China has surpassed Japan since around 2013, yet still lags far behind the U.S. Given the characteristics of the negative factors related to ideological, emotional, and conflicting strategic interests, it is unlikely that we will see a positive trend in South Koreans’ views on China for some years ahead.