China’s soft power at work: The Hong Kong spirit of sharing and people-to-people connectivity

Image: -The Chinese national flag. AFP

This article highlights how a non-state actor is propagating Chinese soft power in Cambodia by while capturing the essence of the conversation between Ambassador Pou Sothirak, Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies and Leung Chun-ying, GX Foundation Chairman and former Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

Given the volatility of the current world order, China has no doubt understood that while hard power is important for a large, continental country for defence and security, it is soft power that ultimately affects how large countries are viewed and even accepted.

China understands full well that soft power is legitimacy and influence that would allow China to enhance its ability to convince regional countries to be friendly towards Beijing as well as influencing global events commensurate with the relative affluence of China at the present time amid this fragmented world order.

Given the unstoppable rise of China economically, politically, and militarily, the discussion about its soft power has not been satisfactory understood and debated. China’s role as a global leader is not only about its economic largesse, the advancement of cutting-edge technology and hard – military – power, but it is also about its soft power that can nurture and sustain China’s global leadership role in the long term.

For Cambodia, China is a source of economic development. The government of China engages Cambodia with a clear economic diplomacy on all fronts. China has become a major source of foreign assistance and investment in Cambodia, including millions of dollars in aid and loans. Most Chinese aid programmes and projects, including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Lancang Mekong Cooperation (LMC) are quite visible in Cambodia, involving technical assistance, grants or low-interest loans, and construction of public buildings and infrastructure involving Chinese companies. Beside the economic sector, Beijing stands firm to do more for bilateral cooperation in such areas as agriculture and tourism, and the implementation of projects concerning hydropower, development of natural resource, and special economic zones in Cambodia.

On April 22, China and Cambodia inaugurated their first “2+2” Strategic Dialogue in Phnom Penh. The meeting involved foreign and defence ministers and aimed to deepen political and security ties and bilateral cooperation. Aspiring to build a China-Cambodia community with a shared future, the “2+2” strategic dialogue signals a key shift in China’s foreign policy by putting relationships with neighbouring countries like Cambodia at the top of its diplomatic agenda. China’s deeper security partnership with Cambodia comes at a critical time with the ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. Through the 2+2 framework, China offers security assurances to Cambodia and encourages peaceful conflict resolution between the two countries.

Although, China’s soft power in Cambodia is noticeable in almost all fields of the Kingdom’s national development, it creates mixed reactions. It resonates well among the political leaders and government yet faces challenges at the societal and community levels. Many Cambodian people on the ground have not sufficiently felt the effects of Chinese soft power on their daily life. This is simply because most of the applications of Chinese soft power in Cambodia are conducted government to government. There is no visible Chinese non-state organisation that assume critical role of propagating Chinese soft power among the general population of Cambodia, except one particular Hong Kong-based, big-hearted non-profit organisation called GX Foundation which is reviewing how Chinese soft power is being implemented meaningfully and successfully in Cambodia.

On July 5, in Phnom Penh, the author of this article sat down with Leung Chun-ying, GX Foundation Chairman and former Chief Executive of Hong Kong for an interesting conversation about how a Hong Kong-based non-state actor has been consistently promoting Chinese soft power in Cambodia. Here are the highlights of the conversation:

Could you say a few words about yourself and the principles that drive GX Foundation?

Leung: I’m a Hong Kong resident and I was the Chief Executive of Hong Kong for five years between 2012 and 2017. When the China-led Belt and Road Initiative for international cooperation came out in the year 2013, it caught my attention. Therefore, as soon as I stepped down as Chief Executive in 2017, I decided to found a charitable organisation in Hong Kong that is outward looking, which reflects the outstanding tradition of using NGOs’ private donations to augment and supplement the work of government in education, medical care, elderly care, childcare, etc. Here in Hong Kong, there existed oldest charities which are a hundred years old. It’s easy to set up an NGO in Hong Kong, and they are all very well-managed.

I started the process of setting up GX Foundation in 2017 and in 2018, GX Foundation was formally established, and the name of the foundation in English is GX Foundation, using the two English letters G and X, which are the short form of the two Latin-transliterated words “Gong Xiang” which means sharing. GX encapsulates the sharing of the levels of development that China has, including those of Hong Kong, with the people in need outside of China. So this is GX Foundation.

GX Foundation is a non-governmental charitable organisation established in Hong Kong, China in 2018, The objective of the Foundation is aimed at providing humanitarian assistance in healthcare and public health to Belt and Road countries. The Foundation embodies the Chinese spirit of “sharing” by focusing on international cooperation in the medical and public health sectors, while actively promoting “people-to-people connectivity” in the realms of culture, education and philanthropy. GX Foundation aspires to expand the scale of its humanitarian aid projects by joining hands with all sectors in Hong Kong to practise the spirit of sharing to deliver warmth and hope, and enhance the soft power of China globally.

What is the overall objective of GX Foundation project here in Cambodia?

Leung: We were slowed down by COVID for about three years, practically the first three years after our formation. We didn’t stop, but we were slowed down. And we started with Laos and Cambodia, and we decided to offer cataract blindness elimination programmes. We don’t just give money to patients in need for them to join the queue to receive surgery offered by local doctors.

We started to bring mainland Chinese medical teams into the programme. They have always been part of our programme. And the province that worked with us in Cambodia is Guangxi, which is the closest province to Cambodia. We sent in two mobile eye treatment centres. These are huge lorries, and the equipment that we put inside these mobile eye treatment centres are the best that money can buy.

We began operations about four years ago, starting in Prey Veng, we did elimination of the backlog cases in Prey Veng. Then we moved to Kampong Speu, and we finished there as well recently.

Between Prey Veng and Kampong Speu, we’ve done 6,600 surgeries, which is a large number.

And then we started to look for a third province, and that’s one of the purposes of my trip on this trip. We looked at two provinces and we decided to go to Kampong Thom. And two days ago, myself and (Health) Minister Chheang Ra, witnessed the signing of the MOU between us and the MOH (Ministry of Health) for us to carry out similar work in Kampong Thom.

We also renewed our efforts in helping Cambodia deal with the spread of dengue fever. We use a rather unique physical approach by using lamps, mosquito lamps, fly traps, rapid dengue test kits, and bed nets to deal with the problem physically. It’s very unique, and this approach has been published in The Lancet in the UK twice: once last year and once again this year.

In the past eight year, we have been in 13 countries in four continents. We are on the ground doing work for the local people. We don’t just write cheques, because you need to enhance your local capacity to deal with public health and medical issues.

We’re pretty focused. In so far as the dengue programme is concerned, we run pretty simple logic with a Chinese solution: we believe that when there’s no mosquito, there’ll be no disease. When there’s no fly, there’ll be no disease either. And if you kill mosquitoes and flies faster than they can breed, for all practical purposes, in and around human habitats, you don’t have mosquitoes and flies and therefore no disease.

It is important to stop mosquitoes and flies in their tracks. From big airport to canals and railways, mosquitoes and flies travel and they bring diseases with them. And we pay particular attention to these passageways of viruses and flies and mosquitoes. Therefore, we now have a programme for the airport – the new Phnom Penh International Airport. We’re going to conduct a pilot project to get rid of flies and mosquitoes at the airport, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville highway, and the canal project.

Outside of Cambodia, we’ve done the Laos-China railway, all the stations along the line. We do the airport and ocean terminal in Fiji, etc. These transport infrastructure projects are important targets for GX Foundation.

In addition, one of the hallmark cataract programmes of GX Foundation is called Cataract Blindness Elimination Programme.

GX Foundation took pride in implementing our hallmark cataract programme, as well as other vector-borne disease until we can eliminate the backlog at the affected provinces in Cambodia. We also do disaster preparedness and response, and we provide portable water supply which is a big public health issue to needy communities. Furthermore, we groom young humanitarian workers in traditional medicine.

So, these are our activities in Cambodia where in the past eight years, I’ve been in Cambodia 15 times, including one family holiday. I very much look forward to coming back. There’s a lot that GX and Cambodia can do together. We do this basically to underline the long-standing and iron-clad friendship between the two peoples and the two countries.

1. Medical Care: Cataract blindness elimination in Cambodia is a primary focus of GX’s flagship programme, working in collaboration with medical teams from Guangxi, China in two provinces in Cambodia:

• Prey Veng Province (Phase 1): Successfully completed on July 29, 2024. During this phase, eight medical cohorts examined over 5,300 patients and performed approximately 3,900 free surgeries.
• Kampong Speu Province (ongoing): Following the success in Prey Veng, the project relocated to Kampong Speu in October 2024. With the 9th–11th ohorts: Between October 2024 and June 2025, these cohorts completed 1,386 surgeries and performed over 1,800 screenings. The 12th Cohort: Launched on July 28, 2025, and is currently ongoing.
• Capacity Building: In December 2024, the Guangxi Medical Team conducted professional training for over 40 local healthcare workers on cataract diagnosis and screening.

2. Vector-borne disease control (dengue fever): GX launched the “Project for Health Protection against Dengue Fever” to address public health challenges in tropical regions.

• Kampong Speu Initiative: An MOU was signed with the Cambodian Ministry of Health on July 29, 2024. The project (running through 2027) donated to affected populations: 13,800 rapid dengue test kits; 495 mosquito lamps; 33,700 sticky fly traps; and 390 bed nets
• Expressway Project: GX partnered with the Cambodia Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway Co, Ltd. (MoU signed August 27, 2024). They installed 160 mosquito lamps at toll stations and service areas and utilised the route to promote health awareness in 22 neighbouring “joint-defence” villages.

3. Humanitarian talent & education:

• Internship programmes: Students from the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong completed two-week internships in Cambodia in June and July 2025, assisting medical teams and engaging with patients.
• Youth ambassador programmes: In July 2025, 28 youth ambassadors participated in fieldwork in Cambodia, helping with pre-screening tasks (visual acuity/blood sugar tests) and documenting patient stories.
• Khmer Cuisine Charity Dinner: Held on December 3, 2024, in Hong Kong to raise funds for Cambodian medical aid projects.

4. Key partners & infrastructure:

• Government partners: Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
• Field office: GX maintains a dedicated field office in Phnom Penh (Exchange Square Building) to coordinate local operations.
• Technical support: Medical operations are supported by the Health Commission of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Conclusion
Arguably, Chinese soft power has been gaining traction with most governments in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia. The country is special for China because Cambodia is the “soft underbelly” of China and vital to Chinese security on its southern front. While the Cambodian government firmly appreciates China’s soft power, the Cambodian people in general remain somewhat unaware of China’s grassroots outreach by a non-state actor.

GX Foundation demonstrates that China as a rising power is persistent in spreading soft power in the world through public diplomacy to improve the country’s image. Therefore, it is this Hong Kong spirit of sharing and people-to-people connectivity that not only provides authentic cultural exchanges while engaging the peoples of China and Cambodia, but also builds organic two-way friendships that transcend the political scepticism often triggered by state-led core interests. This conversation showcases convincingly how non-governmental organisations such as GX Foundation can assume a crucial role in public diplomacy by enhancing China’s soft power and improving its global image.

-Khmer Times-