While his boss was goading China over Twitter, new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been trying to build a constructive and “results-oriented” relationship with the leadership in Beijing. And though his warnings about the possibility of eventual military action over North Korea have raised hackles here, Tillerson received a warm welcome from China’s president on Sunday.

The brief exchange between the president and his national security adviser highlights one of the early conundrums of Trump’s presidency and his foreign policy. In his first budget blueprint, released Thursday, and in speeches, Trump has preached “America First,” an approach that involves bolstering U.S. military might, strengthening the country’s borders and slashing foreign aid.

This week, prime minister Hailemariam Dessalegn had presented a six-month performance assessment report of his government to the House of Peoples Representatives. Foreign relation and diplomacy were among the overarching themes. [...] Efforts were channelled towards helping the country enjoy finance either in a form of loan or aid for trade, investment, tourism. In general, the activities were focused on economic diplomacy.

Members of the Saudi government are visiting the US and China. In both countries, they are striving for good relations - and their traveling diplomacy shows that the kingdom is exploring new paths. [...] the crown prince bent over backwards to offer pleasantries, calling Trump a "true friend" of the Arabs and declaring that he did not believe Trump's attempted travel banwas aimed at Muslims. Rather, the crown prince stated, the US simply wanted to protect itself from terrorism.

China and the Philippines agreed on Friday to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the two countries after the conclusion of a high-level meeting. [...] "China would like to work with the Philippines to deepen China-ASEAN relations, properly handle South China Sea issue, jointly safeguard stability in the South China Sea and maintain the good momentum of development in China-ASEAN relations," Wang Yang said.

As the Tweeting-Diplomat-in-Chief, U.S. President Donald Trump is transforming digital diplomacy — the leveraging of online communication technologies to pursue foreign policy. What used to be thought of as an opportunity to move diplomacy out of inter-governmental back rooms to a more robust and transparent basis of digitally enabled engagement of stakeholders seems to be getting dragged into the locker room of narcissistic posturing.

The Australian government will launch Friday, March 17, the AUD90-million Education Pathways for Peace in Mindanao (PATHWAYS) program. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will lead the official launching of the project, which will primarily benefit communities in Bangsamoro areas. The project is part of Australia’s long-standing commitment to support peace and stability in Mindanao.