asia pacific

The Next Level program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in association with the University of North Carolina's Department of Music, uses hip-hop as a tool to foster cross-cultural creative expression and exchange in diverse communities around the world.

China and Russia are fighting a heated war with the United States. It is an intense battle of words and ideas fought between state-sponsored broadcasters, on the airwaves, and online.

The literature on the relationship between public diplomacy and visas is as polarized as the effects that a nation’s visa policy can have on its image. Visa liberalization policies, such as the broadening of visa waiver programs, can often enhance a nation’s public diplomacy strategy.

While the interest is only increasing among nations in applying branding practices in promoting tourism, investment and overall country perception, the academic treatment of the subject has been narrow and cursory. In my new book Shaping China’s Global Imagination: Branding Nations at the World Expo, I delineate the concept and practice of nation branding by comparing the various ways nations sought to engage the Chinese populace through the medium of pavilion space at the Shanghai World Expo.

President Barack Obama wants America’s friends and allies not only to remain tightly tied together, but to grow the group in order to make sure shared democratic values and open markets are defended and promoted. Most importantly, he wants to make sure America and her collective is unbreakable. What we are witnessing is the end of “big-stick” policy. This is the era of bundled “little-stick” politics.

After prolonged engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has finally made a move to renew its commitment towards Asia, which has always been an arena of US strategic and economic interest. The Asian rebalancing strategy highlights the current power shift in the international order from the west to the east. The economic engagement between the US and the Pacific nations is one the major pillars of the rebalancing strategy as the US identifies ‘economic statecraft’ as a major plank of its ‘Pivot to Asia’.

The likely defeat of the Congress Party in India’s 16th general election has prompted considerable debate about the impact a change of guard in Delhi will have on foreign policy. What would India’s foreign policy look like in the event of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government coming to power, either on its own or with the support of allies?

On Monday China and Iran agreed to deepen defense ties, according to Chinese state media. The announcement was made following a meeting between Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Dehqan.

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