Australia, Indonesia and South Korea skipped the launch of a China-backed Asian infrastructure bank on Friday as the United States said it had concerns about the new rival to Western-dominated multilateral lenders.

The residence of the South Korean ambassador to China has been opened to the public, in an annual public-diplomacy effort to reach out to Chinese people, the South Korean Embassy said Thursday.

The book is based on the true story of the 1971 Table Tennis World Championships in Japan, where the unlikely friendship between American player Glenn Cowan and top China player Zhuang Zedong set the media ablaze and drove both administrations scrambling at the highest levels. 

Fifteen entry-level diplomats from Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs started a two-week training program in Washington on Monday.  For the next two weeks, the group will learn about US policy regarding Afghanistan, US-China relations, public diplomacy and how foreign policy is developed in the US, with a goal towards developing diplomatic, communications and management skills.

While introducing Chinese language and culture to foreigners is a good idea, the aggressive attempt to do so via Confucius Institutes has proved problematic.

In Kinmen's farming villages, old cottages have been restored and turned into bed-and-breakfasts for visitors to experience traditional architecture and the rhythms of rural life. Crowds are sparse in the off-season, but tourism is the best hope to supplement agricultural incomes now that the soldiers are gone.

Torn between its commitment not to intervene in the affairs of other countries and the growing demands of the West to use its growing clout to share some of the burden of shaping the world order, all eyes have turned to China’s budding soft power.

 The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday lodged a protest with Japan’s embassy in Beijing over the visit by three Cabinet ministers to Yasukuni Shrine, Japanese diplomats said.