What does Asia’s increasing prominence mean for ASEAN – a ten-member political community whose regional presence has received growing attention from the global community of late? Already Washington has embarked on its “forward-deployed diplomacy” strategy in the region as evinced by Clinton’s attendance at last year’s ASEAN Regional Forum and her landmark visit to Burma in December.

"Europe was taking the United States for granted in providing defense and filling military capability gaps. It has become so enamored with soft power that it has stopped investing in hard power. In terms of hard security, it makes Europe a free rider. Europe should start investing in its military and building an effective military that can provide leverage on its soft power.”

After experiencing democracy and freedom of expression, Taiwanese are unlikely to settle for anything less than the open society that they have today. Serious moves toward unification will depend on the effectiveness of China’s soft-power approach, which cannot be limited only to the attractiveness of its economy if it is actually to succeed.

“Our strategy is to focus on domestic and regional growth,” she said. But aside from the hard economic power, she added, the creative industries and the soft power of culture are also on the rise. “Indonesia has the potential to grow its creative industries and it also adds to national pride,” she said. “The challenge is how to make it grow.”

An asymmetric world is rising in which leaderless protesters can oust their national leader; and where one of the smallest countries in the Middle East, Qatar, can become a key player by virtue of its soft power. To address the challenges, we need to consider: the power of the people, the power of cities, and the power of countries that are regional or sub-regional locomotives of social and economic progress.

"The old model was Capitalism, the new model is Talentism," he said, noting that the new model will center on human talent to encourage creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation-driven economic development and social progress. He also envisaged a new leadership model based on collaborative power or social power rather than the conception of hard power and soft power...

For a while soft power was undercut because the US reputation was tarnished, but the Arab awakening has demonstrated how powerful American-driven social media are in opening up closed societies. But when IBM invests massively in Africa - which it has identified as the next major emerging growth market - it is also investing in an openness that advances US interests.

The conspicuous failure of American hard power — in Iraq and Afghanistan — obscured the way American soft power has flourished over the past decade. For a while soft power was undercut because the U.S. reputation was tarnished, but the Arab awakening has demonstrated how powerful American-driven social media are in opening up closed societies.