But if China wants to use sport to boost its soft power, Li's win is a good place to start. That she is not in the mould of most of its athletes – her thank-yous in Paris did not include her country – works in her favour overseas. "She is right up there with [basketball's] Yao Ming in her ability to help people look at China in a different light," said Rhoads.

...a team of four international Chinese sports personalities, including Yao Ming... took part in an image branding film for China that was telecast by CNN and shown in Times Square in New York."We would like our athletes to shine, to draw more eyeballs and help us in our marketing," Lu says.

In the world of vicious US/NATO power play, China, Russia, of course, other old targets such as Cuba, DPRK, Iran, Venezuela, too, won't be left out unharmed or free from the aggressors' ongoing "soft power" strategies through so-called "Jasmine Revolutions" or any other form of "cultural indoctrinations"...

Investing in sports like tennis is also important for China's global image and "soft power"....China has dominated some sports... so much so that some of the competition rules have been changed in order to "prevent" China from taking all of the medals, and to encourage other nations to participate.

Public diplomacy has become an important mechanism for Beijing to promote bilateral relations. China has already established 130 Confucius Institutes in 20 European countries and signed educational partnership agreements with all 27 member states of the EU.

It looks great on paper. But there is no transparency. There are no benchmarks and no opportunities for public input or oversight...The talks are used as a public relations exercise that allow the EU to isolate human rights issues from other top-level negotiations.

The rise of China in the last two decades has been phenomenal in the fields of economics, military power and inclusive growth. To address negative concerns about this rise in the West, China has been pursuing its soft power options through the medium of culture, especially movies, sports, arts and music.It has very effectively used its soft power in the same way the US did during the Cold War era. The promotion of soft power helps in two ways; one is in maintaining China’s peaceful rise and the other in helping it gain international appeal.

... Filipinos must exercise public diplomacy which would help show “that there’s a bully in the neighborhood who is misbehaving.” A boycott of China-made products, voicing opinions, making speeches and talking in local and international forums about the ongoing issue are components of public diplomacy intended to hit where China will hurt the most...