At the end of its four-day annual policy meeting, China’s ruling Communist Party approved a programme to make its ideology more popular at home and boost China’s soft power abroad.

Australia should grasp the chance to play a critical role in fostering so-called soft power connections between India and China, thereby boosting its international standing as well as regional harmony. That is the rationale behind the new Soft Power Advocacy and Research Centre at Macquarie University, launched last week.

Laos and Myanmar...are grappling with decisions on whether to build massive hydropower dams on the two significant rivers. The projects could put fragile ecology and associated livelihoods at risk, but the dams could help the two countries reap billions of dollars by exporting the megawatts to China and Thailand, two neighbors with rapidly growing energy demand.

Scarcity of water in Asia could become a thorny issue for the region and trigger major conflicts, an expert says. To avert a water war...a cooperative Asian framework among river basin states is needed, with the aim of working toward a common ownership of shared resources. But China seems to have an aversion to such a multilateral approach to water.

In addition to hosting major international events such as the Olympics and World Expo, more Chinese officials are now writing articles for influential foreign publications. Analysts say the move shows an eagerness on the part of Beijing to make its policies understood elsewhere in the world.

Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong met with Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, pledging to actively promote relationships between China and the EU. Vassiliou said...that such exchanges will enhance communication in the areas of education and culture, and promote further cooperation.

China has cultivated a delicate foreign policy toward the Southeast Asian region over the years. It initially followed soft-power diplomacy...This "feel-good factor" paid dividends as it helped China to sign a code of conduct on the dispute of the South China Sea with the contending parties.

More than 300 of the Communist Party’s most powerful leaders met in Beijing and discussed ways of boosting the nation’s “cultural soft power”: an admission that for all the country’s economic prowess it lacks the magnetic draw of a country like America.