Sending pandas to Japan is a diplomatic way of boosting civil exchanges and building China's soft power said Feng Zhaokui...of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences...China gave a pair of pandas to Japan in 1972 to commemorate the normalization of bilateral relations.

Fresh economic initiatives, supplemented by cultural, educational and humanitarian exchanges, could encourage restraint by North Korea. Despite gunfire and nuclear construction, Pyongyang has continued to support North-South commercial cooperation through the free trade zone...

Many countries are trying every means possible to expand their cultural capacity. The United States, European Union member countries, Japan, Korea, and Singapore are all active players in the new-round competition in cultural soft power.

This a limit of China's projection of soft power, and maybe this is 'Chinese characteristics'. But in my view, the experiences of others show that you project your soft power not by the government, but mainly by civil society organisations.

In recent years, the Chinese regime has proposed establishing soft power. But Beijing’s understanding of soft power is “money diplomacy plus grand overseas propaganda.” Actually, this kind of soft power can only be effective for a short period.

While it does not glisten, Chinatown is increasingly becoming fashionable, with young Argentines. Some local libraries even offer free Mandarin language classes, financed with Chinese money, as part of the country's quiet "soft power" in the region.

Under the new situation, public and cultural diplomacy is an important direction for China's diplomacy. We thoroughly implemented the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, actively engaged in public and cultural diplomacy, and vigorously boosted cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

During Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit in mid-January, Hu and his US counterpart Obama made it a priority to promote people-to-people exchanges to develop friendship between the world's two powers, identifying over 40 joint projects in education, science and technology, culture, women's issues, youth and sports.