China's growing appeal in the Global South is increasingly being shaped by everyday commercial experiences, not just diplomacy or cultural exports. Chinese phones, EVs, apps, infrastructure, entertainment, and consumer brands are becoming part of daily life, creating a form of familiarity that may prove more durable than social-media-driven fascination with China.

But this commercial reach carries a major contradiction: the same low-cost Chinese products that benefit consumers can intensify pressure on local manufacturers. Across Southeast Asia, Africa, and elsewhere, governments are responding with tariffs and anti-dumping measures as Chinese firms challenge domestic industries and potentially constrain industrial upgrading.

Lizzi C. Lee, fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, and Zhuoning Li, a research intern at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, join Eric and Cobus to examine China's expanding commercial soft power, including the China-maxing trend, the role of diaspora communities, and the tension between consumer benefits and local industrial competition.

Show Notes

• South China Morning Post: China's brands must outgrow diaspora bubble to hit soft power potential by Lizzi C. Lee and Zhuoning Li
• Foreign Affairs: How China Is Winning Friends and Influencing People by Eric Olander and Lizzi Lee

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• Why China is becoming more popular with young people
• The rise of the "China-maxing" trend
• How Chinese brands are building soft power
• Why Chinese products resonate across the Global South
• The role of Chinese diaspora networks
• How affordability is changing consumer markets
• Why Chinese brands can benefit consumers while hurting local industries
• Can China's commercial influence outlast the current trend?

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