UN CULTURAL body Unesco has named Chinese opera star Zhang Jun as an 'artist for peace' envoy. The honour recognises Zhang's 'long-term commitment to promoting intangible cultural heritage, especially the Kunqu Opera,' a form of opera and dance dating to the 14th century and classified by Unesco, it said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak went to Japan's disaster-struck region to express their sympathy to residents and to kick off a new period of cooperation in a region beset with both long-playing historical grievances and recent geopolitical squabbling.

From chic styles to cuisine, from cinema to comics, Taiwan is trying to project its soft power across the globe in an effort to step out of China’s shadow

...over 120 Chinese students took part in a special educational exchange with local government and community leaders and European students in the famous port city of Antwerp, Belgium to commemorate EU Youth Week and the "EU-China Year of Youth".

China's self-image and Americans' perception of China are two critical issues for China. The former is mostly a reflection of the Chinese history, culture and people. Recently, China has been somewhat overconfident, most likely because of its economic growth. But scholars point out that China still has a long way to go in realizing its social development goals.

Mr. Khanna argues that in a time of rising state capitalism in many places, corporate diplomacy is national diplomacy too. Research in Motion's security approach in India and Bombardier's China policies, like it or not, are Canadian policies.

''Geoff has been a first-class ambassador for Australia,'' Mr Rudd said in a phone interview in answer to a question about their personal relationship. Knowledge of a Chinese language was just one of many skills in the diplomatic ''tool kit'' that was needed to know about and deal with China, he said.

"We will reach out to most of Africa that has not been significantly touched by our economic diplomacy in recent decades," the official said. India will announce a joint study group to explore modalities for an FTA with Comesa, which is home to half-a-billion Africans and has an annual trade basket of over $300 billion.