Students, professors and international leaders discussed the intersection of soft power—the ability of a country to influence others without force or coercion—and education at the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit Friday through Sunday.
The sixth annual event, which is run by students at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focused on promoting dialogue about China and providing nuanced perspectives on the country. Speakers—including Julia Chang Bloch, former U.S. ambassador to Nepal and current president of the US-China Education Trust—discussed China's recent push for soft power as part of its goal to be a moral and cultural authority as well as an economic and military one.
"Today, a country's standing in the global community is determined not only by its economic and military power, but by its national image and values," Bloch said. "In recent years, China has embarked upon a soft power blitz."
She noted the importance that a country's image has in politics today, describing the 21st century as "the age of attractiveness."
Bloch also spoke about the growing importance of educational exchange among the U.S. and China amid China's economic ascendancy.
She urged universities to appreciate the value of such student-run efforts like the summit and described students' ability to organize the conference—without the intervention of university or government officials—as a strength of the U.S., and therefore a source of its soft power.
“To get students from all of these universities here, not only does it take money, it takes organization, it takes real effort in administration, they invited terrific speakers, and what it does is it helps to build the reputations of these universities,” she said.
The fully student-run operation, which began in 2011, has grown in recent years, said junior Bochen Han, one of the event's organizers.
“It started out with only 30-35 people, and they were all from either Duke or UNC, and then in five short years, we are hosting a hundred delegates from more than 20 schools across the U.S. and China," she said. "We have speakers coming from all over the world, we have ambassadors coming, really prominent speakers coming.”
Han said that although similar conferences are held at Harvard University and Stanford University, she believes this is the first of its kind to be held in the South.
She added that over time, the event has been able to attract a greater number and more diverse collection of speakers, including Bloch.
Other speakers included Jeremy Goldkorn, the founder and editor of Danwei, a China-focused blog and media research firm; Wayne Morrison, a member of the Congressional Research Service; and David Shambaugh, a professor at George Washington University and internationally recognized authority on contemporary China.
“It’s really a good synergy of Americans and Chinese," Shambaugh said. "It shows the best in U.S.—China relations in many ways. And they’ve raised all their own money to support the conference. It’s really been impressive.”
Student delegates in attendance came from more than 20 colleges and universities across the world.
Chad Higgenbottom, a junior at Liberty University, noted that this year's conference theme fit well with last year's theme.
“I think they made a great progression this year from last year’s topic which dealt with strategy, was based largely upon ‘hard power’, and all the aspects of that—moving into this year, the emphasis is upon ‘soft power.' Even the opening speech that we had from Professor [David] Shambaugh was really enlightening about the different aspects that should be understood or concerned when dealing with the concept of soft power,” Higgenbottom said.
College of Holy Cross sophomore David Smith reflected on the diversity of opinions he encountered at the conference, and the merits of this diversity.
"I’m surprised by the openness and honesty that’s been shown—how both sides are able to communicate their parts more clearly. It’s been a very great experience that’s both eye-opening and interesting," Smith said.
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