How are states employing cultural diplomacy in an increasingly interconnected world in shaping understanding between societies while promoting preferential co-operation between nations? Observers of China-South Africa relations will have noticed the increasing reference to the 'China Year in South Africa' by officials on both sides.

The creation of the prosaic-sounding Asian Infrastructure Investment Development Bank (AIIB) has landed the biggest blow to America’s superpower status in the post-war era.  Such is the verdict of former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, one of the West's foremost public intellectuals and a man whose voice reverberates around the corridors of the world’s chancellories.  

Surpassing France, China has become the third largest destination for international students in 2014. According to the latest figures from the Chinese Ministry of Education, there are over 337,000 international students studying in the mainland, which account for 8 percent of all international students across the world.

Washington’s long-awaited nuclear deal with Iran prompted relief in Tehran over an end to international isolation, anxiety among Middle Eastern allies over the United States’ “Persian pivot,” and skepticism in the U.S. Congress, given Iran’s long-standing sponsorship of terrorism. The framework agreement will also have wider repercussions — for Asia.

At the end of last year, China introduced a draft law that forbids foreign NGOs that engage in activities contrary to "Chinese society's moral customs." In Russia, organizations that receive foreign funding must register as "foreign agents." Egypt, Bolivia, Eritrea, and Zimbabwe have passed similar measures. These governments see malign motives behind many of these foreign-financed initiatives. Are they right to be worried?