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Neither of these are exactly “soft” power, I think you’re misinterpreting the term somewhat.
Soft power isn’t so much to do with “diplomatic” power, but mainly the ability to more subtly influence others through positive attraction, such as through culture, religion, arts, film, music, fashion etc (such as Hollywood films acting as propaganda for US capitalist ideas, even when not made to explicitly do so). And in all honesty this is arguably one of China’s weakest ways of projecting itself overseas, compared to the west. I’m just struggling to see how that really ties into the discussion here.
soft pow·er
noun
a persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of economic or cultural influence.
Everything I described falls under that, with their history of being the most level-headed economic player and growing more and more advanced by the day helps them out in their diplomacy. If you want an example that fits more of your definition, then I would point to the massive amount of brain-drain from the United States to China. I also mentioned productive forces. There is no misunderstanding here.
https://www.intelligentliving.co/why-chinese-scientists-leaving-us-stem/#%3A~%3Atext=By+2021%2C+a+striking+67%2Cworld's+scientific+expertise+is+centered.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-13/mother-of-all-bombs-afghanistan
This is older and was before China was leading the top 20 academic journals. They aren’t so weak when they are successfully draining and using their “soft-power” to attract the brightest minds to their nation. They would lose a lot of this if they were to directly intervene or deploy in Iran against the United States.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3314949/us-brain-drain-set-gather-pace-academics-seek-posts-outside-trumps-america
This one is more recent.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an example of China using soft power.