It turns out that the Chinese leadership has no problem with the idea of harnessing cutting-edge Western soft power for its own purposes. In fact, they seem convinced that no possible tool should be overlooked when it comes to moving the country on to the next stage in the process that China’s Little Helmsman, former leader Deng Xiaoping, decades ago designated as the era in which “to get rich is glorious."

Instead, she will be a great power through building her own strength and capabilities and continuing to show wisdom and good sense in her choice of engagements abroad. [...] I am convinced that India will be a great power if she continues on her present course. This will not be through her soft power.

KP Oli should realise by now that flirting with Chinese oil diplomacy is not in Nepal’s long term interest either. Our public diplomacy has been even more disastrous. Instead of asking the Indians to #Backoff or cribbing against #IndiablockadesNepal, had the media and civil society collectively pressured government to reach out to the dissenting groups while opening diplomatic channels with New Delhi things would not have deteriorated to this extent.

This paper examines China’s public diplomacy components and content in general, discussing some of the main vectors of China’s public diplomacy, cultural, and political influence by the way of “soft power”. 

African countries must not overstate the extent of Chinese investment on the continent as China is investing very little [...] At the recently-held African Media Leaders Forum in South Africa last week, UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Carlos Lopez said African leaders had to confront the reality that Chinese investment in Africa was not enough for the “mineral sacrifices” it was warranting.

Now, Chinese students are by far the most visible international presence at many universities across the United States, and their numbers continue to grow. This year, the number of Chinese student studying stateside was 304,040, a 10.8 percent increase over the 2013-14 academic year, according to a just-released report by the non-profit Institute for International Education (IIE).