When the United States or any other Western country embraces a “pivot to Asia” as a central element of its foreign policy, it must be more than a “pivot to China.” Nations such as South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and others all keep a close eye on China, but they also know that they individually and especially collectively possess enough economic and political vitality to offset some of China’s regional dominance.

Environmental diplomacy is part of the overall process of mediation that unifies the diversity in actions and views of certain universal environmental norms and local environmental values. The issue of the environment has a transnational characteristic and it requires various solutions, norms and even joint schemes to overcome it.

Focussing on ancient Buddhist links is a customary part of India-China cultural diplomacy during high-level visits even if bilateral ties have generally been less-than sacred in modern times.

China has reasons to feel it can use outbound tourism as a soft power to influence foreign policy. Governments across the world are adjusting their visa and other regulations to welcome the rising tide of Chinese tourists.

Defensive no more about its censorship record, China is trumpeting its vision of “Internet sovereignty” as a model for the world and is moving to make it a legal reality at home. At the same time — confounding Western skeptics — the Internet is nonetheless thriving in China, with nearly 700 million users, putting almost 1 in 4 of the world’s online population behind the Great Firewall.

The South Korean side said the China-South Korean relations are at their historical best, the two sides have enjoyed close high-level contacts, and cooperation in the sectors of economy and trade as well people-to-people exchange has yielded fruitful results.

An experimental attempt at some online diplomacy in China failed spectacularly last week when the US Embassy in Beijing's online question-and-answer session was abruptly disappeared.