China is using soft power through the form of foreign aid to help the world, despite criticism from the West that its approach lacks transparency.

There is no better proof of this than the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, the latest strategies under Beijing's foreign aid policy.

Can sports be the key to strengthen diplomatic ties between sovereign states? According to Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, the so-called "basketball diplomacy" may very well be the solution for increased mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and American citizens.

Like music and art, sports transcend various boundaries, and the Chinese Vice Premier believes it plays a significant role in people-to-people exchanges, particularly China-U.S. ties.

The American Heart Association and China Tuesday formalized a partnership to educate the Chinese about cardiovascular disease and train people in CPR as ways to reduce deaths in the country. The agreement provides for exchanges of researchers, doctors and public health specialists to work alongside counterparts in the U.S. and China. It also provides for teams of scientists to work together to advance scientific knowledge of cardiovascular health.

On January 28, 1979, Mr. Deng Xiaoping, then China’s vice premier, started his nine-day official visit to the United States, the first such visit by a top Chinese leader since the founding of the People’s Republic. There are many memorable moments from his tour, but the most iconic is undoubtedly when he put on a ten-gallon cowboy hat and waved to the audience in a Texas rodeo. That moment humanized Chinese leaders, who had been demonized by American leaders and mass media for nearly two decades.

China's Vice-Premier Liu Yandong on Monday challenged university presidents from both China and the United States to deepen and broaden cooperation in higher education. The presidents and chancellors of more than 50 major US and Chinese universities met at Rice University in Houston for the US-China University Presidents Roundtable. They discussed global education, research collaboration and cultural exchange.

The impressive participation around the world on International Yoga Day is indeed a testimony to India’s immense reservoir of soft power. In his energetic engagement with world leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put a special emphasis on cultural diplomacy. Modi should, however, remember that India’s soft power has the greatest impact when official New Delhi keeps its heavy hand away from it. India is not new to cultural diplomacy. India’s self-discovery of its rich cultural heritage and its global reach played an important role in shaping its modern nationalism.