What does it mean that China's has become a global force? And more importantly, how have they actually accomplished that?
The quick answer? Through business dealings rather than military alliances, and a superb infographic from the Heritage Foundation offers a rarely seen snapshot of that.

With cultural diplomacy, the idea is to bring people together on an international scale in a more socio-cultural context, rather than on a diplomatic basis.

For much of the past decade, "soft power" has been touted as a means for making foreign policy more effective by emphasizing enticement rather than coercion, conversation rather than conflict.

CHINA's ruling Communist Party has vowed to increase its "cultural soft power" as it launches itself into the final stage of a power struggle from which a decade of leaders will emerge next October.

A pair of giant pandas could be on their way to a zoo in the tsunami-affected area of Japan. The idea originated from correspondence between Premier Wen Jiabao and a Japanese girl he met during his visit to Miyagi prefecture in late May following the magnitude-9 quake and ensuing tsunami that struck Japan on March 11.

The editorial seems reflective of a trend...Chinese policymakers, academic strategists, and journalists are stil a lot more obsessed with the United States than the other way around. Yes, there's been some perfunctory rhetoric about "getting tough with China" on the campaign trail, but there's still far more ink spilled over the Middle East in the U.S. national political conversation.

Given rapid economic development of Asian countries and the gradual formation of a new type of cooperation pattern, the United States is afraid to miss the express train of Asia's development and lose its dominance of regional affairs. The U.S. move to "return to Asia" aims to gain more interests from Asia's regional development and cement its dominant position.

China's leaders have agreed guidelines aimed at preserving "cultural security" and expanding Chinese soft power...Analysts say the meeting was largely aimed at strengthening the party's tight control over the media and the Internet. But...Xinhua said the meeting should be seen as a strong signal for China to do better in the cultural field, where it has been lagging.