Cultural diplomacy underlies the exceptional works included in this year's international music festival. Performed in monumental spaces such as the national museum, the concerts, which have a strong East-West flavour, will reach out to everyone, Claire Low writes.

APDS Blogger: Emina Vukic

In general, China made innovations in diplomatic theory and practice with a view to making ever greater contributions to the development of China’s economy and society. It effectively addressed foreign-related sensitive issues and emergencies...

During the Cold War, cultural diplomacy was a priority of U.S. foreign policy as a means of cultivating relationships with nations around the world through positive exchange. Since that time, there has been a marked decline in cultural diplomacy.

Should one be surprised to hear the Ambassador of the United States telling an audience of students and influential Abu Dhabi elite that his country needed to raise its game and change their narrative in the region?...he remarked that people in the Gulf thought of the USA in military terms.

Within this transatlantic culture, soft power was offered as a complement to hard power – another means to the same end of getting our way in the world, albeit slower. Instead of armies, we actively shipped artists, products, legal systems, video games...

As a struggle for a new narrative across the Taiwan Strait develops, it remains unclear what kind of collective narrative will emerge – if ever. Ostensibly, the KMT and the CCP are engaging in a mutual game of soft power politics that is moving beyond cultural exchanges.