As Chinese tourists spill from their tour bus into the Beverly Center, Charlie Gu hands each one a sleek black envelope. Inside: a Chinese-language map of the mall and a special discount card. Gu, the center's Mandarin-speaking Chinese specialist, asks shoppers about what they're looking for and circles relevant stores on the map.

Michelle Obama has embarked on a weeklong trip to China, together with her mother, Marian Robinson, and daughters, Malia and Sasha. Critics of the trip point out that the Robinson-Obama visits to Beijing (Great Wall), Xi’an (terra-cotta army), and Chengdu (pandas), will do nothing to illuminate or alleviate tensions in U.S.-China relations.

First ladies have long been an important part of a nation’s public diplomacy. Now their role is ever more pronounced. In this regard, China’s first lady invites special attention as the country actively courts international public opinion.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is visiting China this week, and it is tempting to view the trip as the first step in a campaign to get his company inside the world’s most populous nation. After all, Twitter is struggling to add users, so it could stand to access a market of 600 million people connected to the internet.

The United States is “deeply disturbed” by reports of the death of prominent Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli, detained in September for staging sit-ins at the country’s foreign ministry, the State Department said on Saturday. The news of her death came on Friday, soon after the start of a session in Geneva of the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body to which China was elected amid controversy last November.

Public diplomacy matters, but it is no substitute for policy. As First Lady Michelle Obama prepares to travel to China, she should consider weaving some policy into what appears to be almost entirely a week-long public diplomacy push. With her mother and two daughters in tow, the first lady will be visiting educational institutions and historical sites and discussing education in the United States and China.

On Thursday a senior Indian official appeared to endorse Russia’s position in Ukraine in recent days, even as Delhi urged all parties involved to seek a peaceful resolution to the diplomatic crisis. When asked for India’s official assessment of the events in Ukraine, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon responded.