china
For foreigners, it can be hard to understand the staggering viewership of CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. The yearly program commanded 700 million eyeballs in 2014 and 690 million eyeballs this year, according to CNN. But cold comments online suggest that CCTV’s viewership comes less from popularity than from a captive audience.
The rising tensions between Russia and the West, especially the United States, over Ukraine provide a constant reminder of the Cold War, when the two superpowers fought proxy conflicts for spheres of influence. A key question in the current game of great power politics is whether China and Russia will form an alliance against the United States?
On Sunday evening, Prince William arrives in Beijing at the start of a three day visit to China. At state level, the objective is to promote brand Britain, and at a personal level, it's an opportunity to talk about his abiding passion: elephant protection.
Cultural diplomacy initiatives around the world ease tensions and strengthen bonds between nations with tumultuous diplomatic relations.
The intersection of public diplomacy, people-to-people communication and international trust building is explored in this new article by Kirsten Mogensen, an associate professor at Roskilde University in Denmark and an alumna of the CPD Summer Institute.
Think open dialogue and reconciliation and China isn’t usually the first country that comes to mind. But in 2013 China shifted its principle of “non-interference in other countries” to one of active conflict resolution in some of the world’s most intractable contexts: Israel-Palestine, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. (...) But while it may be a welcome foray, its success will be muted at best unless China can overcome one major blind spot: religion.
Professor Martha Bayles of Boston College’s College of Arts and Sciences honors department brought together leaders within the film industry for a panel discussion on Feb. 23 about how America is internationally perceived. (...) She explores America’s image abroad and the potentially surprising lack of desirability in America’s freedom and democracy, as well as the distorted portrayals of these qualities among America’s cultural exports.
Enjoying steady bilateral relations since diplomatic ties were established after the Vietnam War in 1976, the Philippines and Vietnam are now engaging in high-level dialogues to try to establish a strategic partnership.