TAIPEI --- While the latest aircraft carrier movements and military maneuvers here are chronicled closely in U.S. media, significant public diplomacy initiatives go largely unreported. This past week provided a prime example:

Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong’s week-long visit to Taipei has been front-page news in this region, in newspapers from Korea to Singapore. For his first-ever visit, the mayor led a 500-person delegation – yes, five hundred people – including party officials, business leaders and Chinese celebrities.

...There can be no doubt that chipolopolo’s victory is a victory for Southern Africa and in that respect the region also feels and owns the Africa Cup." Chipolopolo’s triumph has significantly enhanced Zambia’s visibility everywhere in the European communities as a major tool for the country’s public diplomacy with rave reviews in the media.

His mandate covers overall representation of the EU and leading Member States on EU matters; political dialogue with Tanzania and EAC authorities; management of development assistance; trade relations; and public diplomacy with the host country.

Several years ago I organized a conference designed to encourage those involved in the work of cultural diplomacy – policy makers, practitioners and cultural producers, public diplomacy officers, and academics; who too seldom talk to one another – to generate a shared conversation about what in fact composes this enterprise.

In reading through various reports from Davos last week, I couldn’t help but wonder with all that power amassed – over 4500 attendees to include hundreds of heads of state and CEOs – and all the current crises compounding on the world’s stage, might something different result. Would there be any fresh thinking or radical action to come of such a gathering at such an auspicious time in world history.

Brussels has welcomed Beijing's strategy to boost its soft power by spreading its colorful cultures across globe after years of economic success, said a top European Union (EU) culture official....European Commission's Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said culture plays an important part in achieving Beijing's aspiration of gaining more global influence and sharpening its soft power.

A Europe that has seen 67 years of post-war peace makes for an inviting haven for the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, who went through a harrowing conflict in the 1990s. For them, entry into the EU is still, above all, a guarantee of security, stability, and peace. In this stricken corner of Europe, the EU’s soft power is very real.

On top of that, up until now Europe has been able to compensate for the crisis of its military influence with a solid soft power relying on the attractiveness of its economic model or strong ties with former colonies. However this well-known hallmark of the European sway is waning too