Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott gave important speeches this week about Australia's engagement with Asia. They were talking to a national forum sponsored by Asialink of Melbourne University, the best single body promoting connections between Australia and Asia.

Three new radio programs, Daybreak Asia, Crossroads Asia, and Middle East Monitor, focus on key developments in each region... Another program, International Edition, provides lively, fast-paced world news coverage, and American Café brings you stories about life in the United States.

Nearly 90 delegates from 20 countries have recently gathered in the northern province of Quang Ninh for an ASEM workshop on enhancing Asia-Europe cultural ties. The meeting was organised by the Vietnamese Government and the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), with support from Italy and Hungary.

Summary: Secretary Clinton’s trip to Asia highlighted the importance of confidence-building measures and symbolism in traditional state-to-state diplomacy, but also reflected the distinctive style of the Obama administration.

Much that is written about public diplomacy focuses on Europe and the Muslim world. National news media in the US, headquartered in New York and Washington, equates foreign opinion with approving editorials in The Guardian and large crowds in Berlin. By those criteria, President-elect Barack Obama is wildly popular. Just elect Obama, the thinking goes, and America's public diplomacy problems are solved.

Not quite: The data indicate Obama was never as popular in Asia as in Europe. And it turns out President Bush was never as unpopular in Asia as he was in Europe.