China’s soft power strategy has been largely unable to resonate with global audiences, but Labubus have taken the world by storm. From Thailand to Texas, Pop Mart stores are popping up to satiate consumers’ desire for these collectable toys. Contrary to state-backed soft power strategies, Labubus tapped into organic market-driven trends, such as blind-box culture, to reach a wide and dedicated audience. Labubus can also serve as a gateway to China, introducing people to Chinese artists and incentivizing them to visit POPLAND in Beijing to collect exclusive toys. Are Labubus the exception to China’s previous soft power pursuits, or a sign of a successful new strategy?
Natalia Cote-Muñoz joined us in September 2025 to share how Labubus are resonating across different cultures and changing the way people perceive China.
Natalia Cote-Muñoz
Natalia Cote-Muñoz is the Managing Partner and CEO of Vantage Point Strategies, a boutique geopolitical risk, AI, and public interest advisory firm. An expert in foreign affairs, East Asia-Pacific, China, and the Western Hemisphere, she served in the Biden-Harris administration as the acting Deputy Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy in the State Department’s Subnational Diplomacy unit. She joined the Biden administration in early 2021 to serve as a Special Assistant for policy at the Secretary of State’s Office of Policy Planning. Prior to her time in government, Cote-Muñoz worked extensively as a policy analyst, conducting research at the Council on Foreign Relations, Inter-American Dialogue, and Carnegie-Tsinghua Center. She has published policy pieces in publications such as Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, and Americas Quarterly. Cote-Muñoz has also held fellowships with the Truman National Security Project, Foreign Policy for America, the German Marshall Fund, the Inter-American Dialogue, and Princeton in Asia. She holds an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in political science from Swarthmore College. Cote-Muñoz is trilingual (English, Spanish, and French), has advanced Mandarin proficiency, and has lived and worked in China and across the Americas.