China's economists and China's soft power
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There has been much discussion in China about the need to develop "soft power" – the ability to project an image or "brand" of the country. Frankly, it is an area where China has not been as skilful at as other countries.
Take a simple example. Sir Martin Sorell's WPP, the world's largest advertising agency, developed the "Incredible India" campaign – one of the world's most successful destination branding/global positioning campaigns. I was present at a meeting where Sorrell offered to develop a free trial ad for a major Chinese city (doubtless with the aim of future paid business). Incredibly, no-one even bother to discuss it. Anybody taking the matter seriously would have jumped at the opportunity, evaluated the result, and then decided whether paying for ads in the future was worth it.
Often, the strongest and most internationally attractive aspects of China's image are ignored. For example, according to calculations by Professor Danny Quah of the London School of Economics, China has lifted 630 million people out of poverty – undoubtedly the greatest contribution to human welfare by any country in history. Yet I have scarcely seen a single English language Chinese TV programme or newspaper article celebrating this achievement. Far too much space and time is wasted on second hand coverage of American and European sport, which is better covered by these countries' own media, when the big story in town, and the reason foreigners follow the Chinese media, is China itself.
It is therefore encouraging, on one of the really big international stories of the moment, the so called threat of "currency wars", to see China's economists bashing their opponents from pillar to post in coherence of argument. No-one seriously studying the issue can fail to be struck by the contrast between the quality of the material produced by China's economists and the self-contradictory and empty arguments produced by their international opponents.
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