Faced with a patchy image abroad, China is adopting an unusual tactic in its propaganda campaign: using bright-eyed foreign students to burnish its reputation. [...]A new video, released on Tuesday on the YouTube and Facebook accounts of People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, has been ridiculed on the Internet for the interviewees' fawning praise of President Xi Jinping.

[...] Nyong’o is coming to the Public Theatre, in her first New York stage role. “Eclipsed” (starting previews Sept. 29), which tells the story of a group of women held captive during the Liberian Civil War, in 2003 [...] Nyong’o has also advocated for international causes, from elephant conservation to ending prejudice against albinos.

The rapid acceleration of digital technologies has been rupturing the conservative profession of diplomacy for the better part of a decade [...] Without deft digital diplomacy, Australia leaves itself unable to respond to the risks that [their] citizens and exporters increasingly face overseas.

Vibrant Bangladesh', for example, is an apt description to not only reflect our economic fundamentals but to also attract the global market in a vigorous way.[...] The branding of 'Beautiful Bangladesh' is more of an aesthetic impression than of a developmental image. 

Reputation matters and this list of 11 Countries with the Worst Reputation in the World, tries to bring this matter to light. [...]With the world becoming a global village and world trade increasing many folds, reputation of a nation takes centre stage. Today, many countries depend on foreign investments and technology, as well as revenues from tourism and intellectual capital by way of expatriates

In a country that awards the Nobel Peace Prize each year and delights in its reputation for tolerance, the rebranding of Vikings from violent thugs to peaceable craftsmen is part of a broader resurgence of interest in a historical period previously embraced mostly by far-right nationalists.

Most of the focus on China’s soft power has emphasised infrastructure projects spearheaded by Beijing as a way to forge good relations with countries it deemed to be of strategic importance. But China has come to recognise the intangible benefits of a well-burnished public image abroad – goodwill and influence roads and railways alone cannot buy.