China surpasses UK in global soft power rankings

China has surpassed the United Kingdom to become the second most influential soft power country in the world, according to the new edition of Global Soft Power Index published on Thursday.

The United States remains at the top of the ranking, the UK is ranked third, followed by Japan and Germany.

The sixth annual index, released by UK brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, is based on a survey of more than 170,000 respondents from over 100 countries to gather data on global perceptions of all 193 member states of the United Nations.

"China's performance was outstanding this year. Amongst the Top 10 soft power powers, China is the only one that increased its position. It went from third to second," David Haigh, chairman of Brand Finance, told China Daily.

China achieved a score of 72.8 out of 100, its highest position ever. Compared to the index last year, China has recorded statistically significant growth across six of the eight soft power pillars, and in two-thirds of measured attributes.

"On many of the eight pillars, China outperformed this year, great place to do business, innovation, nice people, good food. There are many things that China excels at," Haigh said.

Haigh attributed the advance to China's long-term view.

"China has got a very long-term view. It has been developing policies which it implements consistently. And year by year, those policies are showing results. And so those results then find their way into our table," he said.

"The fact is our table is not made up by Brand Finance. It's based on the views of a very large number of people worldwide. What that reflects is that China is doing things in Africa, South America, Asia, and all over the world that give people a much better view of China."

Soft power is defined as a nation's ability to influence others in the international arena through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion. Each nation is scored across 55 different metrics to arrive at an overall score out of 100 and ranked in order from one to 193.

The US maintains its position at the top of the ranking with an all-time highest index score of 79.5 out of 100. In the reputation category, the US falls four positions to rank 15th globally; and in governance, it downs four spots to 10th, according to Brand Finance.