The Chinese Communist Party does not hide its hostility to and fear of the political values -- freedom, human rights, political competition, and constitutional rule -- that underpin American democracy. In the eyes of the Chinese ruling elites, the United States presents a political threat, even though they understand that a full-fledged military conflict between two nuclear-armed great powers is extremely unlikely. Chinese leaders feel so endangered by U.S. soft power that they are now even orchestrating a propaganda campaign against constitutionalism.

Georgia has invented a new kind of public diplomacy - "cycle diplomacy." "The project goal: to discover a new Georgia for the Azerbaijani society, strengthen friendly ties, promote a healthy lifestyle, classical, folk and extreme sports, advertise companies, attract business partners, tourists in Georgia, etc. It is planned a reception by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan in Baku, meetings with the population in 26 large cities and regions," it was reported.

My thesis today is that public diplomacy is critical in extending civilian-military power. It combines soft and hard power to make the kind of “smart power” that is necessary to succeed. Public diplomacy is inextricably linked to key U.S. foreign policy goals of preventing deadly conflict, managing conflict when it occurs, and building civil societies out of the ashes of conflict

The ambassadors' 'Bike Across Borders' trip to the sister cities of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia included stops along the way to see U.S. government projects, national parks, and local chiefs. One of the ambassadors' key messages was the importance of an improved business climate to attract private investment.

Union Human Resources and Development Minister M M Pallam Raju's visit has laid the groundwork for refining and enhancing educational partnership between the United States and India, a US official has said.

"His visit laid the groundwork for refining and enhancing our educational partnership and conversations begun during the Minister's trip will feed directly into June's Dialogue," said Tara D Sonenshine, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Asked whether it was effective to deal with the issue by publicly naming China, Hagel said he thought both public diplomacy and private engagement were necessary. Public statements are necessary to let people know what is going on, he said, but it doesn't solve problems.

Andrew Saul, CEO of Genovation Inc., recently completed a three-week, eight-city speaking tour of Australia and New Zealand on "Entrepreneurship and Renewable Energy," as part of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP). Genovation is a Rockville, Md.-based designer and custom builder of environmentally friendly automobiles.