A comparative study on Japanese and Chinese soft power in the form of ODA projects, specifically the LRT and NLR in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Chua, Natasha Camille D., Obillos, Ina Carmela O., Rivero, Felice Fatima G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: China > Foreign economic relations > Japan; Japan > Foreign economic relations > China; Japan > Official Development Assistance; Economic assistance, Japanese; International and Area Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/11432
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Asian region is dominated by two economic powers, namely China and Japan. Their influence and power has become very widespread due to their use of soft power, a concept coined by Joseph Nye. With soft power, these two countries use their culture, values, policies and actions to make their country more appealing to the other countries, and these countries in turn would become more open to them. Soft power is concerned with shaping a country’s image a certain way to appeal to other countries. In order to explain how this works, and prove that soft power indeed affects the image of a country, the researchers used the Image Theory as a framework for this paper. This study examined and compared the relationship of China and Japan through the use of soft power with the Philippines. Focusing mainly on the ODA projects on Japan (the LRT line 2) and China (North Luzon Railway), the researchers compared these two projects, the issues behind them, and how the government department in charge viewed the image of both countries. Their study shows that comparisons of the successes of the soft power instruments, in this case, the ODA projects of China and Japan, do create separate images for the two countries. The issues behind the projects and other data as their means of soft power affect how the country seen in the recipient country as explained by the Image Theory. This study further underscored the importance of soft power in international relations and shows just how much it can affect the general perception of a country.