China is quickly becoming a world power, capable of exercising considerable influence over other countries. And it is advancing to the centre of the geopolitical stage just as — if not because — American and European leadership seems to be retreating into the wings. China certainly has a receptive audience. One reason is that the “darker nations”, as the international-studies scholar Vijay Prashad calls global-South countries, feel greater kinship with China than with the United States and Europe.

The Philippine Embassy in Doha marked a milestone in the field of cultural diplomacy with yesterday’s official opening of Sentro Rizal - a learning centre for Philippine arts and culture which is the second to be opened in the MENA region. [...] Hundreds of students from two Philippine schools in Qatar are set to benefit from the newly opened centre.

Educating learners in cultural diplomacy provides them with the unique ability to influence the attitudes and ideologies of individuals and cultures, thus accelerating the realisation of cultural diversity, global intercultural interchange, justice, interdependence, human rights and global peace.