“We are challenged every day by what the Chinese are doing in public diplomacy."... China has “checked the print ‘box’” and has moved into broadcasting and in-person programs at the Confucius Institutes, she said, all adding up to a powerful public diplomacy force – and a huge investment in public diplomacy.

Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” which embraces the full range of diplomatic tools – in this case the game of basketball – to bring people together to foster greater understanding.

WASHINGTON --- Tara Sonenshine, nominated to serve as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, offered advice this morning to public diplomacy observers: Watch China.

“We are challenged every day by what the Chinese are doing in public diplomacy,” she said.

Part of the Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative, this exchange builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” which embraces the full range of diplomatic tools – in this case the game of basketball – to bring people together to foster greater understanding.

Unfavourable attention may have prompted China to become more public about its aid policy. Even with the will to boost aid transparency, China still faces a “diplomatic dilemma” in enforcing it: to meet compliance both sides must be willing and able, and recipient countries with weak governments often have poor aid oversight.

So the conference in Seoul might be about the nuclear issue but the upcoming meeting between premier Yousaf Raza Gilani and US President Barack Obama has assumed central importance...What the meeting does hold is an opportunity in public diplomacy.

This much-trumpeted approach will group commercial and public diplomacy efforts and direct these towards emerging Asian economies and Latin American countries in an attempt to boost Spain’s profile and hopefully help economic recovery.

As part of the “Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative,” the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and U.S. Soccer announced today that the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will take to the soccer field and lead a event for Japanese youth...