Book Review. Charm Rivals

Book Reviews JAPAN AND CHINA AS CHARM RIVALS: Soft Power in Regional Diplomacy. By Jing Sun. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2012. xii, 231 pp. (Tables, igures.) US$70.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-472-11833-5. Charm Rivals expertly addresses the diiculties that China and Japan face in diplomacy with their East Asian and South East Asian neighbours. How does the PRC “charm” South East Asian nations, for example, when China’s populace ofends by so clearly expressing feelings of superiority (60-61)? Is it possible for Japan to reinvent its image after the atrocities committed during the Paciic War (65)? Are Beijing’s eforts to win the hearts and minds of people in Taiwan credible when it is also issuing military threats at regular intervals (126)? In the introduction, Jing Sun sets the stage by outlining his goal of exploring the history of soft power in China and Japan. Chapter 1 presents the attempts by China and Japan to win each other over. Chapter 2 shifts the focus to the ways that China and Japan have tried to ingratiate themselves with their South East Asian neighbours. Sun then investigates the two countries’ eforts to gain the trust of South Korea (chapter 3) and Taiwan (chapter 4). Considering the title, there are several issues that one might have expected Sun to touch on that are not addressed in the book. In his introduction, Sun demonstrates that Japanese leaders are far more enthusiastic about popular culture’s potential for soft power than their Chinese counterparts (2-3). Yet why? This would seem to connect to a willingness to erase markers of Japan’s identity in its popular culture with an eye to the foreign market (Koichi Iwabuchi, Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism, Duke University Press, 2002). In turn, it is arguably born of a desire to erase the negative images that its military earned during its colonial and imperialist periods. China, on the other hand, sees itself less as a rising power than as a returning power, which has profound implications on the nation’s psyche (Wu Xu, Chinese Cyber Nationalism: Evolution, Characteristics, and Implications, Lexington Books, 2007, page 1). As such, for the most part the PRC seems less interested in adjusting its popular culture for outside consumption than trying to persuade the world that it should come to appreciate what China has to ofer on its own terms. PRC oicials also seem to perceive of popular culture as far more threatening to their own legitimacy than in Japan. Sun ignores these issues, and others, because he is more interested in the allure of economics and politics than the underlying efects of popular culture or soft power on international relations. It should be noted, then, that this is not really a book on pop culture, as might be inferred from the title. Sun very occasionally nods to popular culture such as ilm and music (52-53, 107-109), sports (110, 152-153), or the internet (117). Yet, for the most part, the book is less concerned with popular culture than overt governmental attempts to court other nations. He argues that unless a government is using pop culture intentionally as “political 619 Paciic Afairs: Volume 86, No. 3 – September 2013 leverage,” it cannot really be categorized as soft power (8, 15). He emphasizes that soft power has not been able to overcome larger tensions between nations (see 87, 104, 132-135, and much of the introduction). Indeed, the overarching conclusion of the book is that soft power is hindered by so many obstacles that it is inefective and virtually irrelevant to international politics (166-167, 170-172). As an anthropologist I have to disagree. Clearly there are nationally bound emotional and intellectual ambivalences that continue in spite of popular culture. Few would claim that soft power is omnipotent. Yet this does not discount the importance, or impact, of pop culture on social mores and politics. One might argue that the most forceful inluences of soft power are often embedded in seemingly apolitical formats. James Watson’s edited volume on McDonald’s, Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia, demonstrates the remarkable range of underlying cultural values that the fast food chain introduces to East Asia (Stanford University Press, 1997). This includes egalitarianism, new conceptions of hygiene, and Taylorist economic models, to name a few. Supposedly apolitical pop music can be far more inluential than government-sponsored events that, more often than not, are weighed down by the heavy-handedness of national agendas. Taiwan’s pop culture has dramatically transformed the PRC in areas ranging from gender, to consumerism, to individualism. Though PRC/Taiwan relations continue to be fraught with tension, politically and culturally they are closer now than they have ever been. In examining popular culture or soft power it is precisely the unquantiiable and the unintentional that is more powerful, and more theoretically engaging. To the degree that I have taken issue with some of Sun’s claims it should be seen as a dialogue between our disciplines. To that end, it is not important that we agree. The book is at its best in examining China and Japan’s failures in trying to reach out to their neighbors. He eloquently presents the long-standing antipathies between East Asian nations, and the ways that this historical baggage hinders contemporary attempts to work together for economic and political gain. Little of this will be surprising to those familiar with East Asia but few have outlined these issues in such a concise, well-organized and readable fashion. For those who are unfamiliar with the politics of this region, Charm Rivals could serve as an exceptionally compelling introduction. It is written with engaging prose and it is full of insights and, at times, a welcome sense of humour. In short, Charm Rivals was a pleasure to read and it is an important addition to a growing body of scholarship on political relations in East Asia. University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA 620 Marc L. Moskowitz