This study aims to identify the relationship between smart power and the Obama administration’ foreign policy toword China. The Obama administration has actively embraced smart power as a foreign policy basis to realize its foreign policy goals of protecting and promoting US national interests and restoring US global leadership. The Obama administration''s Smart Power foreign policy is to use all available resources, including hard power and soft power, to suit the situation and to strengthen alliances and build new partnerships through multilateral approaches, rather than one-sided ones, in order to protect and promote national interests of US in the world. It also recognized the level of US diplomacy, military and development resources, security threats, and global issues, and emphasized a balanced response to the situation and context. In particular, the strategy of restoring global leadership through strengthening civilian power is a representative foreign policy of the Obama administration using the concept of smart power.
The Asia-Pacific region is the core interest area of the United States, and the rise of China is a significant factor in the region. So the Obama administration viewed China as the most important country in US foreign relations. The Obama administration recognized China as a target of checks and cooperations and applied smart power to U.S foreign policy toward China to use all the power resources to establish a comprehensive bilateral relationship with China. In particular, the Obama administration acknowledged the peaceful rise of China and sought to solve global problems with bilateral issues through dialogue and cooperation. Diplomatic efforts have been made every year to find consensus on economic, security, human rights and global issues through the US-China strategic and economic dialogue. In military terms, they intensified military exchanges between the US and China, concluded Memorandum of Understanding to enhance mutual understanding and prevent contingencies and miscalculations. In development part in US-China relations, such as the case of US-China cooperation in Africa, it is said that it has created a new chapter of cooperation that does not belong to a sharp interest. This is a remarkable example of US-China bilateral relations contributing to global public goods supply. In this sense, Smart Power can be regarded as a new breakthrough in the bilateral relationship between the US and China, and it can be expected to play a role as a buffer against the tragedy between the great powers in the future.