Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine will travel to Beijing May 3-4 to serve as co-coordinator of the third annual U.S.-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE) with Chinese Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping.

This is the America that draws ever-growing numbers of Chinese students, who then take home a view of the United States that refutes the stereotypes.Such an exercise of informal diplomacy on a grand scale cannot help but change U.S.-China relations. It may even change the world.

In good promotion and marketing, including "soft power" projection, the starting point is the nature of the product itself...China now devotes increased resources to promotion – the rapid overseas expansion of CCTV is one example. But resources will not be effective unless they are integrated with the product.

Chinese culture is playing an increasingly important role in regional and global economic development, and is making its presence felt in a variety of international arenas...I am confident the establishment of the Confucius Institute in Bangor will provide our students with unprecedented access to many remarkable aspects of Chinese culture.

A majority of Americans and Chinese agree that: China will have leading influence in the Asia-Pacific region 20 years from now; China will have the most influence over the global economy in the next 20 years; and the US will remain the world's leading superpower during the next 20 years.

China’s rapid growth and expanding influence in the International community has generated heated debates as to whether it has achieved ‘great power’ status. Whereas the Chinese are content with ‘emerging power’ status, its unprecedented growth and influence in the International community depict a nation that has taken charge.

Only after it regains confidence in its culture, the Chinese nation, which has a beautiful language, will get enough say in international affairs, be able to compete with other countries in various fields such as economy and culture, carry forward its civilization, and contribute greatly to global cultural exchanges.

The two countries should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges so as to consolidate the foundation of their friendship. He said they should make full use of the Confucius Institute and the Chinese culture center in Bangkok to further enhance cooperation in areas including culture, education, tourism and youth exchanges.