Assessing China’s Soft Power Approach to Managing Political Stability and Social Order in Hong Kong

Abstract

  Post-1997, Hong Kong has operated within the “One Country Two Systems” framework, but recent political crisis and governance reforms have made Beijing rethink its methods of keeping political stability and social order. The paper evaluates the application of soft power as a governance tool in Hong Kong by China and the effectiveness of non-coercive tools in supplementing legal and institutional controls. Using qualitative research approach, the paper examines state policy documents, Chinese and Hong Kong media discourses, educational reforms, and cultural programs adopted since 2019 with the major focus on the development after the implementation of the National Security Law. The results have shown that Beijing uses soft power in the form of patriotic education, restructuring media, normalization of cultures and identity-oriented discourse, in order to reconstruct the meaning of national belonging and justify political power. Although such actions have helped curb popular discontent and institutional obedience, they have also made Hong Kong more polarized and liberal civic culture weaker.