The relationship between India and Maldives has changed much from what it was in the post-independent 1960s. After setting up its harbours in the island nation, now China’s use of soft power is gaining strength. 

The Chinese Embassy in Washington blasted members of Congress forvoting to rename its street address after an imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate in what was a clear -- if somewhat juvenile -- attempt to needle Beijing for its human rights record.

China and Russia are fighting a heated war with the United States. It is an intense battle of words and ideas fought between state-sponsored broadcasters, on the airwaves, and online.

In today's times, China has adopted soft power in a different sense. It is concerned to couch its rise to global power in non-threatening tones. Not wanting, like Germany and Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to threaten the existing world order and provoke a world war, it wishes to present its rise as harmonious.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Greek counterpart, Antonis Samaras, on Saturday witnessed the opening of the new Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Crete, pledging to beef up bilateral cultural exchanges.  Describing civilizations as the crystallization of human wisdom, Li said cultural exchanges serve as an important basis for country-to-country relations.

The premier also visited the Acropolis of Athens and the National Archaeological Museum on Friday, and had dinner at the Acropolis Museum on Thursday. Analysts said such arrangements are for paying tribute to another great civilization. It also shows that, after decades of rapid growth, Chinese leaders' overseas visits no longer focus solely on practical results, such as forging deals. They also make time for spiritual and cultural understanding.

Both the number and growth of Chinese students at American universities is one of the more startling phenomena in higher education. A welcome one, too: study abroad would seem to promise a future where U.S.-China relations might be characterized by greater firsthand knowledge of American culture among the Chinese. By generating greater understanding, their experience in the U.S. should also expand their sense of common interests, brightening prospects for cooperation between the world’s main powers.