New Zealand researchers say a vast collection of Chinese art -- with items dating back 5,000 years -- is offering new insights into diplomatic links between the two countries since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. [...] The collection, came together with the approval of the People's Republic of China government, is a very early PRC exercise in the use of art for cultural diplomacy, said Bullen.

High and medium-speed rail services are expected to connect 10 major cities between Kunming in China and Singapore. But negotiations with seven Southeast Asian countries are testing Beijing's "railway diplomacy."

Trust-building measures through candid exchange and action via multilateral and bilateral accords on key common challenges are needed, specifically counterfeiting, cyber-crime, piracy, terrorism, greater financial openness, and transparency. 

Former senior officials from South Korea, China and Japan will hold their first three-way forum on public diplomacy later this week to help promote cooperation among the three nations […] The forum "will discuss how to deepen dialogue and exchange among the three countries," Hua said. "We believe that this will make a constructive role for promoting trilateral cooperation and interactions."

During the Ming dynasty, [...] More than six centuries later, Xi Jinping, China’s president, launched a new maritime strategy explicitly drawing on Zheng’s legacy: the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road is one part of a larger project, the One Belt, One Road (OBOR), which aims to connect China with Europe by land and sea. 

A pair of Chinese giant pandas that arrived here last month as part of a joint research project were officially unveiled to the public on April 21 at the country’s largest amusement park south of Seoul. After some 50 days of allowing the animals to get used to their new environment, Samsung Everland in Yongin, about 50 kilometers south of Seoul, held an opening ceremony for “Panda World” and showed the pandas to the public.

While the field in Metro Vancouver is already crowded with proposed Chinese art museums and facilities [...] “This is a cultural bridge between China and Canada,” Ye said. “First, it’s a place where Canadians can get the most authentic, top-level cultural exhibits from China today. Second, it gives Chinese-Canadians — no matter how many generations they’ve been here — to have a visual and tangible link to what their ancestral culture has to offer.”

China’s diplomacy seems largely about sending other countries pandas. Luckily, it seems like every country really wants pandas. Spider diplomacy, for instance, would not work, though undoubtedly is being considered by North Korea. These two pandas arrived in Malaysia and now Malaysia loves China even more.