he so-called six-party talks — the on-again-off-again international mechanism by which the US, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear aspirations — are often cited as an example of multilateral diplomacy.

To increase China's highbrow soft power, the Chinese government could initiate more scholarly exchange programs with other countries, set up more Confucius Institutes abroad, and increase government-sponsored and government-involved people-to-people exchange programs.

The friendship and cooperation between California and Jiangsu started in the 1980s, and the two sides made it an official sister-state relationship in July 2011. The cooperation covers science and technology, education, economy and trade, two-way investment, culture and tourism.

The overall measure of Australians' "warmth" towards China is captured in the Lowy Institute's "thermometer," a gauge measuring how positively people feel towards a range of countries. Last year China was ranked eighth with a warmth of 59 degrees out of a possible 100, just under Malaysia and just above India.

A recent visit from Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Guo Jinlong to Cuba included a presentation of acrobatics from China and The Chinese Dragon performed by the women’s percussion orchestra Red Poppy of Beijing along with young Cubans including the University of Havana Confucius Choir and the Habana Comás dance troupe. - See more at: http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=95164#sthash.qZvxSCKZ.dpuf

The world is surrounded, and even blinded by the soft power of Western countries, the Western media and the information they provide. Many Chinese have already been accustomed to understanding the world based on Western ways of thinking. When meeting with two Chinese PhD candidates in Harvard University, Wang was shocked that these two highly-educated Chinese students described their motherland, where they had lived in for years, in terms shaped by Western discourse.

The Korean Film Archive (KOFA) has signed an “agreement of cooperation” with the newly opened Shanghai Film Museum, the South Korea state-backed body announced. The pact, the first of its kind to be pursued for KOFA since its inception in 1974, means the two organizations will collaborate for film screenings, exhibitions, and restoration projects.

China is without a doubt here to stay in Africa! China clearly has a plan for Africa. The "sinofication" of Africa is currently taking place through immigration, the assertion of soft power and mass investments and goods.