George Balanchine’s Jewels has its 50th anniversary this year, an event that was commemorated at New York City’s Lincoln Center last month with performances by dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet. The performances were notable not just for the coming together of three of the world’s great dance companies, but because their international representation mirrored the work itself.

Mandalay-based reporter Maung Tar took a 10-day trip to China last year. He visited the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, admired Tianjin city and also traipsed through the famous stone forests of Yunnan province. He didn't have to pay a cent. China has launched a charm offensive of late, inviting journalists, teachers, monks and other influential groups to visit the country, to enhance its reputation amid bad press in the region.

If Trump became president, “it would at the very least create confusion and carries the risk of triggering a major turning point for the Japan-US alliance and Japan’s overall diplomacy”, Maeshima said.

Given Trump's increasing erratic foreign policy positioning, the fact that he remains a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination is sending shockwaves around the world. And this is damaging the reputation of the United States (so-called ‘Brand America') internationally.