The soft power of women is a crucial aspect of a country's soft power. Actually, compared with men, women are a truer embodiment of the meaning of soft power. China could well realize its true prosperity once its women are fully liberated.

Innovations are a source of soft power. At a time of an unprecedented economic recession, soft power fueled by innovations remains America's greatest competitive advantage...The US experience suggests the way China has transformed itself into a new superpower will not be possible without building up its soft power that provides fertile ground for innovative products.

With sparkling new offices in Washington, D.C., on New York Avenue since February 6, and a staff of 75 soon to be 100, CCTV America is making a serious and well-financed bid to be a player in the U.S. media market. CCTV America is a subsidiary of China Central TV, the Chinese state broadcaster, whose global ambitions have been making headlines.

The cultural institutions of most countries are autonomous, unconnected with any local educational facility. But China’s Confucius Institutes are different, leading to criticism from some teachers, education authorities and parts of the media.

It has been at least five years since Zhao Qizheng introduced public diplomacy to China at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body in China. However, this form of unofficial, cross-cultural communication faces a rather uncertain future with Zhao's retirement this year as CPPCC spokesman.

...Dickinson State College in North Dakota became the most recent university to turn down a Confucius Institute — a cultural outpost of the Chinese government that already has 350 branches on campuses around the world, from Paris Diderot University to Penn State University, and from Argentina to Zimbabwe.

This Government has put painstaking effort into rebuilding Ireland's reputational capital in Europe, in the USA and the emerging global powerhouse that is China. There are some indications that this effort is bearing fruit, notably in the confirmation by leading international companies that Ireland continues to be as much a magnet for inward investment as it was a decade ago.

While discussing with political advisors in the field of foreign exchanges, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, said the CPPCC should actively promote public diplomacy in a bid to improve support and favor for China in the international community.