Branding China as a free rider on the international order not only affects China's relations with the West, but also has strongly negative effects on China's international image.
Fighting this argument is a huge public diplomacy problem for China.

As an ancient civilization that has lasted five thousand years, the Chinese civilization has learned a profound lesson by witnessing the ups and downs of other cultures. The lesson is that a culture can be better sustained through openness and become stronger by including diversified external influences.

The Shanghai World Expo is a great investment in education for all citizens, has achieved great success and greatly improves China's soft power, said Serge Abou, E.U. Ambassador to China, when interviewed by reporters for China News Service recently.

China has pulled out of the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival due to a sovereignty issue over Taiwan and announced it will boycott other festival-related events. The head of the Chinese delegation, Jiang Ping, told festival organizers that the Taiwanese delegation must not attend the festival under the name Taiwan, but as "Chinese Taipei"...

Artists of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) performed here Sunday an adapted Chinese opera masterpiece to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the entry of the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) into the Korean front.

Despite no-expenses-spared efforts to boost its soft power, such as the Shanghai Expo and plans to open a Xinhua news agency office atop a skyscraper in New York’s Times Square, China’s image has taken a beating in recent months...

The U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief on Thursday spoke out against intolerance toward religious groups such as Falun Gong and the Baha'is, remarks that irritated China.

Despite no-expenses-spared efforts to boost its soft power, such as the Shanghai Expo and plans to open a Xinhua news agency office atop a skyscraper in New York's Times Square, China's image has taken a beating in recent months, what with its tough talk to the United States and Japan, its defence of North Korea and, now, its attacks on the Norwegian Nobel Committee for honouring imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo.