Hu said the two sides should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and use the occasion of celebrating the 40th anniversary of normalizing ties to develop a long-term plan for exchanges in the areas of youth, young cadres, culture, tourism, media and local governments so as to improve mutual understanding and friendly feelings between the two peoples.

The meeting resulted in the creation of the Wanning Declaration, a document viewed as a milestone in public diplomacy between China and Africa. The declaration underscored the agreement made between China and African nations to enhance Sino-African cooperation...

It is not difficult to understand why everybody keeps mum about the tragic events happening in Tibet...Today’s China seems to have a different definition of ‘culture’ or ‘religion’ than the rest of the world. In an official Chinese publication...

The international ramifications for China's slowly rebuilding reputation would be too much to bear even for the relatively untouchable Communist Party... On the one hand, Europeans are slowly becoming more reliant on Chinese bail-out money – do not bite the hand that feeds you. On the other, Europe must maintain its soft-power credit, even if only on the surface.

In the past 30 years, China has created an economic machine that has lifted more people out of poverty in a short space of time than any nation in history. It has built world-class factories, vast modern cities and a continental highway system. Now it wants to build something less tangible: soft power.

The latest issue of the Atlantic Monthly devotes a major cover story to Pakistan. Neither the article nor the cover (a photo of a grubby jihadist) capture Pakistan's most flattering side, and the title, "The Ally From Hell" does not appear to do so either.

Each year, Google hosts a conference called “Zeitgeist,” organizing presentations and discussions surrounding the most popular search queries of the past year. Much is learned about the zeitgeist through Google searches.
 

China isn’t the only country engaged in cyber espionage. But perceptions of its increased activity risk undermining its soft power diplomacy.