Honourable Mention: Like Water: An Inquiry into China’s Soft Power Strategy in Africa

There can be no doubt that the People’s Republic of China has firmly established itself as a key player in the international community and is a nation on the verge of superpower status. However, the means by which China has amassed its immense power and status are due in large part to the shrewd application of soft power used to secure its strategic interests. The masterful use of Chinese soft power is explicitly apparent in China’s establishment of close diplomatic ties with many nations in the African continent. As such, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how China has utilized soft power in its development of Sino-African relations. This analysis will provide a basis to better understand the nature of soft power and highlight how a soft power approach can be implemented into a nation’s grand strategy as a means to secure a myriad of strategic interests.