President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday met with Japanese artists at the Presidential Office and said that he was pleased to see the increasing extent of cultural exchange between Taiwan and Japan. Although public works can spur a nation's growth, it is culture that makes a nation great, Ma said, stressing that culture is the foundation of a country.

APDS Blogger: Shaocong 'Amanda' Hu

On Jan. 19th, the USC MPD Beijing Delegation attended a roundtable themed “The Present Situation and Prospects of China’s Public Diplomacy” sponsored by the Charhar Institute, a leading public diplomacy and international relations think tank in China.

A delegation of senior representatives of Korea's tourism industry visited Israel this week in a bid to increase public awareness of the country as an enticing tourist destination. Their trip coincided with the annual International Mediterranean Tourism Market represented by 30 different countries at the Israel Trade Fairs and Convention Center in Tel Aviv.

The Florida Orchestra has run into the first real glitch in its cultural exchange with Cuba. On Friday, the orchestra learned it had to postpone plans to send concertmaster Jeffrey Multer to perform on Feb. 10 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in Havana.

Diplomats, members of Congress and Italian-American community leaders gathered at the National Gallery of Art in December for the unveiling of the “David-Apollo,” a nearly 500-year-old Michelangelo masterpiece on loan from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy.

The barefoot boys sit cross-legged on the stage, tuning their instruments to the droning A of the lutelike rubab. Behind them hangs a poster of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, shaking hands underneath the word “Cooperation.” Before them is an audience of mostly African American boys and girls, listening to Afghan instruments they’ve never before seen up close. As the visitors play a set of four traditional songs, heads begin to bob in the auditorium at William E. Doar Jr.

In November 2006, President George W. Bush received Mexican president-elect Felipe Calderon in the Oval Office as part of a traditional protocol meeting that brings together the Mexican president elect and the United States president. At the time, immigration was the hot topic for discussion. Days before their meeting, President Bush passed a bill that authorized the construction of a border wall.

APDS Blogger: Oscar Castellanos del Collado