China and the United States are competing to win the hearts and minds of Third World nations by treating the sick on visiting hospital ships. A new study by the Royal Australian Navy Sea Power Centre says China embarked on its foray into naval medical diplomacy last year...such missions furthered China's new desire to expand its influence and lift its image as a responsible global stakeholder.

In China, where large areas are chronically short of water and electricity, the mighty rivers that flow from Tibet into South and Southeast Asia are a tempting target. But as China dams more of its rivers in more places, neighbouring nations are worried that the next step may be to divert water on a large scale instead of just using it for power.

Chinese investment is flooding into Argentina as the Asian giant expands its global commodity hunt from the raw materials used in industry to the foodstuffs needed to feed its 1.3 billion citizens. During the last three years, more than 70% of China's investment in the region went to energy and minerals, but farming is attracting more attention as the country seeks to fill its bowls from foreign fields.

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.