In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong argues that while force remains essential to deter aggression and manage worst-case scenarios, military strength may prevent defeat, but it rarely produces legitimacy. When hard power dominates the strategic imagination, volatility rises and markets suffer.
Soft power — the ability to influence countries through persuasion, attraction and legitimacy — has become a strategic asset, she writes. It shapes expectations, lowers baseline tensions, and creates off-ramps in moments of crisis, often determining whether tensions escalate, how long crises last, and how much economic damage they inflict.
Prof Kong believes that in a nuclear-armed, economically interdependent Asia, the real test of power is credibility, restraint, and attraction. The conflicts visible today, she argues, do not disprove the importance of soft power — they underline how urgently it is needed.