Beijing is ramping up efforts to entice foreign elites with university scholarships in a bid to build its ¡°soft power¡±, an expert on international affairs has said.

Peter Cai, a research fellow at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy, pointed to a recent that China would award 10,000 scholarships to students in Arab countries.

This is part of Beijing¡¯s ¡°One Belt One Road¡± initiative, a plan to build overland and maritime infrastructure to link China with the Middle East, Europe, East Africa and Southeast Asia.

The Chinese government is ¡°keen to build its soft power through scholarship programs¡±, Mr Cai, who previously worked at the Australian Treasury, wrote on the , the Lowy Institute¡¯s online platform.

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Aside from these future plans, ¡°China is already enjoying some successes in attracting future elites to its campuses¡±, he said.

¡°You can spot offspring of North Korean senior cadres on the campus of Peking University through their Kim Jong-un pins and slick polo shirts. Some African kleptocrats like to send their kids to Beijing to study,¡± Mr Cai argued.

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¡°Even Singapore's official class, which is incredibly brand-conscious when it comes to universities, is taking a shining to Beijing ¡ª some Singaporean government scholars with degrees from Oxbridge are going to Peking University instead of the Harvard Kennedy School for their further education.¡±

The president of Ethiopia, Mulatu Teshome, studied in China for 12 years including at Peking University where he was a classmate of Chinese premier Li Keqiang, Mr Cai pointed out. This Chinese education was reported to have influenced President Teshome¡¯s reform programme, he added.

However, Beijing is simply following the example of Western countries in using scholarships ¡°as instruments of diplomacy¡±, he said.

¡°The Brits have Rhodes and Chevening, the Americans have Marshall and Fulbright, and the Australian government has created a lot of goodwill in its neighbourhood through the New Colombo Plan.¡±

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david.matthews@tesglobal.com