Opera, therefore, is one of Italy's key avenues of soft power. It has spread around the world, and leading singers come from everywhere, great performances are sung from New York to Beijing. But opera's soul is still in Italy.

After January 2015’s  presidential polls—otherwise known as the Rainbow Revolution—that ousted “friend of China” Rajapaksa, Beijing’s influence over Colombo was said to be gradually receding from the sandy shores of the island traditionally seen as within India’s periphery of influence.

Sino-ROK normalization has brought enormous economic and trade benefits to both countries, but over two decades of ever-closer “partnership” between Beijing and Seoul, South Korea has never gained the level of strategic support from Beijing that it has desired as leverage in dealing with North Korea. 

It’s great publicity for the zoo, but it’s also great publicity for China, where these pandas come from, “on loan.” But how often do you read about how much the U.S. is paying for this Chinese public diplomacy bonanza?

The long-awaited 11-storey China Cultural Centre in Queen Street has been completed and a writers' forum featuring five reputed Chinese novelists tonight will kick-start its series of pre-launch programmes. Designed by prominent Singapore architect Liu Thai Ker, the centre took over two years to build. Its official opening later this year is expected to be hosted by both countries' top leaders.

The outcome of apology diplomacy between the countries never satisfies any of the parties. Despite some heartfelt apologies from the Japanese government, neither Beijing nor Seoul has been satisfied. Words that have been used in textbooks, visits by Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine, movies and fiction about World War II have all became divisive issues in one of the economic engines of the world.

The Narendra Modi government has decided to make India's Buddhism links the centrepiece of its cultural diplomacy thrust through a blitzkrieg of novel projects, after the Prime Minister feted East Asian leaders through his first year in office with references to this religious bridge.