APDS Blogger: Maya Babla

China has broadened its engagement in Nepal, both at political and institutional levels. It has also initiated Track-II diplomacy with Nepal and invited Nepalis scholars to visit Chinese think tanks. Besides, China is promoting China Study Centres (CSCs) in Kathmandu.

Even though India is the only large country in Asia where Japan does not have any historical baggage, and Japan has been broadly viewed favourably in Indian public opinion, the reverse is less true. Clearly, this is an area for the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs to focus on.

For the first time, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India has initiated “The MEA Distinguished Lecture Series on India’s foreign policy.” Though Indian diplomats consistently speak at foreign university campuses and to think tanks around the world, this is the first time that MEA has undertaken such an exercise internally.

Rarely has the Indian government discussed matters of foreign relations with its citizens. Foreign policy, for a long time in India, has remained a preserve of the elites. The only foreign policy issue that might have sparked an interest in the average Indian, is its nation’s relations with Pakistan. Furthermore, this interest might only be true for an Indian living in the North. An Indian living nearly 3,000 kilometers away from Pakistan in India’s northeast, with no historical experience, would have little interest in its country’s relationship with Pakistan.

The Government of Spain's Ministry of Culture - Casa Asia, the Cervantes Institute and the Spanish embassy in New Delhi joined hands to promote the Spanish 'cultural industries' in India through the third edition of “New Urban Cultures” programme.

India has an oft-overlooked friend – Indonesia. While the two countries have so far had a generally cordial relationship, much remains to be done if Jakarta and New Delhi want to take full advantage of the opportunities available to both. With this in mind, there really needs to be greater interaction between journalists, business partners and scholars of both countries.

The rise in emerging market (EM) hard power over the past decade has been dramatic. The crucial question that arises then is whether soft power in the emerging world has risen commensurately to its hard power. If it has, then the combination of rising soft and hard power will give many EM countries more global clout.