China's Soft Power in Southeast Asia Through the Belt & Road Initiative and Vietnam's Reception

Abstract: The article analyzes the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) to explore China's soft power and its power projection trajectory toward its 'Great Rejuvenation'. In this article we use an analytical framework of a soft power spectrum to examine the central questions of how effectively China's state soft power has been advanced through the BRI projects in some Southeast Asian maritime countries. We also examine the Vietnamese assessment of China's soft power projection through the BRI. The empirical core of the article is based on the results of an in-depth expert survey conducted between March and June 2022. The article argues that should China succeed in shaping its partners' interests, preferences, and behaviors toward a higher level of co-option based on trust and attraction, without coercion, manipulation, inducement, or payment, such kind of positive soft power could make Southeast Asia a showcase example for others. Otherwise, China's defined soft power would work quite limitedly in the region and sooner or later be at a loss.