Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, told this water summit’s attendees that “water is a strategic necessity for Singapore” and so the country had “mobilized our machinery” in a holistic approach that includes investing in new technology and educating the public about water conservation.

Between humanitarian tours of the Pacific Rim and South Pacific, as well as natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, tsunamis and earthquakes, such a fleet of vessels wouldn’t be idle. The service they could provide the Japanese people, and the goodwill they could generate abroad, could be of far greater value than resources spent on military power.

With the establishment of its first academic research center on public diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a well-publicized International Forum on Public Diplomacy in 2010, China has been taking some major steps forward as it tries to, in Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying’s words, “effectively present its image to other countries” and overcome a lack of experience “in handling relations with the media and the public in foreign countries”.  T

"The soft power of Taiwan's small- and medium-sized businesses comes from innovation, overseas market expansion and efficiency,: said Chiang. "Mainland China, meanwhile, has hard power such as a big labor force, and abundant land and resources."

He is also ambassador for the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts and for the child-centered NGO Plan International. He will soon be formally presented as ambassador of goodwill of the UN Population Fund to help in the AIDS and HIV information dissemination.

Undersecretary Rafael Seguis...said that DFA could not afford to ignore or belittle the role of the media in times of disasters or emergencies.Seguis said that the media are also a vital partner in public diplomacy thru the use of networking sites like Facebook or Twitter or other sites.

In China, where large areas are chronically short of water and electricity, the mighty rivers that flow from Tibet into South and Southeast Asia are a tempting target. But as China dams more of its rivers in more places, neighbouring nations are worried that the next step may be to divert water on a large scale instead of just using it for power.