India's soft power credentials vs China lie in open society, diversity : Nirupama Rao

KOLKATA: Former foreign secretary

Nirupama Rao

on Sunday said India's strength vis-a-vis China in projecting its soft power across the globe lies in her democratic credentials, open society, institutional freedoms and constitutional values that stress respect for diversity, pluralism and protection of minorities.

She however lamented that China's soft power was growing stronger despite it often resorting to use of hard power - military, strategic and economic - making for a mix that overshadows the region eliciting fear, wariness and cautionary responses to its outreach in the region.

"India' strength vis-a-vis China lie in her democratic credentials, her open society and institutional freedoms, and constitutional values that stress respect for diversity, pluralism and the protection of minorities," Rao said delivering the second Krishna Bose lecture 'Power of soft power' at the Netaji Research Bureau here through the virtual mode.

Stressing that India must leverage these soft power assets better, she said that global opinion about the country is built on its capacity to uphold these values and also the workings of internal governance.

Rao, a former ambassador of India to USA, China and Sri Lanka, said that though China's efforts in spreading its soft power may not have yielded its desired goals owing to "the authoritarian nature of the Chinese state and its obsessive control of its citizenry including gross violations of their human rights, the vast expenditures made on soft power diplomacy make for considerable impact."

She said that over the past few decades, China has consciously sought to 'soften' its image abroad and receive 'respect', using the appeal of Chinese art, architecture, cinema, literature, universities and its behemoth economy. Rao said that there are those who claim that the 'recognition' of Indian soft power globally is a recent phenomenon attributable entirely to efforts made by Indian policy-makers over the last few years.

"Let us remember that poets and philosophers, theatre personalities and educators from abroad, have been inspired by India's civilisational aura and ethos, for centuries now," she said, remembering how Hollywood star Gregory Peck recited Rabindranath Tagore's poem 'Unending Love' at the funeral of Audrey Hepburn. Stating that India has 38 cultural centres established by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) across the world, Rao said that the numbers are not commensurate with India's size and weight on the global stage. "We need far more such institutions spread over various regions," she said, pointing to China having established several hundred Confucius institutes in furtherance of its aim to project its 'soft power'.

She said that as an exercise in soft power, India's outreach into Afghanistan from 2001 till August this year when the Taliban regained control over the country, can be cited as an instance of gaining great goodwill and winning hearts and minds. Rao said that India's development assistance to Afghanistan totaled over $ 3 billion between 2001 and 2021 involving projects focused on health, education, capacity development and food security, apart from building roads and power transmission lines and dams.

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