This year, China's soft power performance has been exerted along several main lines including anti-COVID-19 efforts, innovation, the Winter Olympics, and its commercial brands.

1. Economic development in the pandemic 

In the second year of the pandemic, China's GDP increased by 8.1% and this rate was the best among the world's major economies, leading to China being rated 1^st in the Global Soft Power Index’s Business & Trade pillar. China’s GDP reached US$17.7 trillion with the Index rating China 1^st globally as ‘easy to do business in and with,’ and first at ‘future growth potential.’ 

A recent government work report puts China’s GDP growth target at around 5.5% in 2022 — at the top end of the forecast range given by many economists, and significantly higher than the IMF's forecast of 4.8%. Achieving such a high level of economic growth would justify the Index’s rating of China at 9.5 out of 10 on the measure of ‘a strong and stable economy.’ This will help China's "transition from Chinese products to Chinese brands", so it is possible that the next few decades will bring further growth of Chinese brands. 

2. COVID-19  

At the end of 2021, the Chinese Government stated that there were 2,886 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China. Although China was the first major country to detect the epidemic, the global perception of China’s COVID-19 performance was very low in 2021. In 2022, China earned the 19^th highest ranking of 5.4 on COVID-19 Response in the Index. This is a big and significant improvement from last year’s rating of 3.7. China’s rating is likely boosted by the distribution of Chinese-made vaccines to many non-Western nations for free – using economic hard power to leverage soft power benefits in some countries. 

3. Innovation  

Since 2013, China’s ranking in the “Global Innovation Index” report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization has risen steadily for 9 consecutive years and is currently ranked 12^th – a ranking in part based upon the value of the nation’s brands as assessed by Brand Finance. As a developing country, China ranks first in the world in nine indicators including patent applications, trademark applications, industrial designs, high-tech exports, creative product exports and domestic market size. This fully confirms the fact that China’s soft power in the field of technological innovation and intellectual property protection is constantly growing. This is reflected in the Index’s increased evaluation of China on ‘products and brands the world loves’ which increased by a remarkable +2.2 points from 5.7 in 2021 to 7.9 this year. 

4. The Winter Olympics 

In cooperation with the international community, the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 received notable praise from the International Olympic Committee and the participating athletes. The successful completion of the Winter Olympics has allowed the world to see a more confident, self-improving, and tolerant China. This helped to boost China’s rating on ‘leaders in sports’ from 2.7 to 3.0, an increase in ranking from 15^th last year to 10^th globally this year. 

5. Brands 

China's soft power is also reflected in many other things, from various types of cooperation in outer space technology to the increasing tendency of more Chinese people using domestic brands with more competitive quality and price in their daily lives. Over the past decade, Chinese brands have outperformed international peers in Brand Finance's brand value rankings, with their total value increasing nearly tenfold, and many brands have dominated certain industries for several years now. The picture of China's soft power changes will continue to unfold through more Chinese products becoming Chinese brands as global competitors and then global leaders in time. 

There are several areas where Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation (GPC) excels and outshines its competitors, most notably in the CSR sphere.  

According to Brand Finance’s original market research conducted on the Chinese pharma industry, GPC achieved the highest score in regards to caring about the wider community, with 32% of respondents believing that the brand devoted its resources to the wider community. This positive response is spread evenly across the three age groups covered (18-34, 35-54, and 55-75) as well as across different cities covered, showcasing the positive results of GPC’s strategy towards nationwide brand building.  

Furthermore, GPC ranks first in the environment CSR metric. The brand has shown continued dedication in this area, carrying out free collection of expired medicines for 17 consecutive years. So far, GPC has collected more than 1,500 tons of expired medicines and was awarded a Guinness World Record for this impressive achievement.  

Recently, GPC has helped the Guizhou province tackle poverty by inviting leading expert in China in the fight against COVID - Zhong Nanshan – to educate the people about the benefits of consuming cili products. GPC has developed a selection of products from CININJI, which have now become the core products across the cili industry – with the proposition of “health, poverty alleviation, driving consumption”.  

Internationalisation

In recent years, GPC has focused on accelerating the pace of internationalisation, through several initiatives including attending international conferences, Davos, Boao, and Fortune Global Forum – all strengthening the brand’s position on the global stage and its relationships with fellow world-leading brands.  

GPC has also actively participated in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and has entered strategic partnerships with the University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau, and the Guangdong-Macao Chinese Medicine Industrial Park. 

At the beginning of 2020, GPC unveiled its new international headquarters in Macao, its presence hoping to help contribute towards economic diversification across the region and bring more opportunities across Macao society.  

Brand Finance Chinese Pharma 2021

Read our special report on the most valuable and strongest Chinese pharma brands.