The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Public Diplomacy established a special web site and focuses much of its attention on this issue. While high ranking government officials grapple with this problem, a group of 14- and 15- year-old boys are putting on a clinic regarding how to improve Israel’s image – just be nice.

On Monday, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency fired back with a commentary condemning the “narrow nationalism and ignorance” displayed by U.S. politicians who oppose the Chinese-made uniforms and citing the importance of “the Olympic Spirit, which has nothing to do with politics” but is instead about “mutual understanding and fair play.”

"First and foremost, we want to show people that China is not all about censorship and political debate. People talk about movies, celebrities, social issues and even international news. We explain how Weibo’s used for many other things than just to talk about what people are eating or doing, how it's helping people, how it affects lives, how silly it can be and how it’s not that different from social networks in the West.

While mainstream media often reported on the news of a disaster, citizen journalists were able to provide valuable background information that could impact humanitarian policy. "Reporting a disaster or an emergency is as critical as reporting the events leading to it. How did people react just before it happened and so on," Palatino said.

There are yet others who consider "soft power" a transparent effort to mask U.S. efforts to run the affairs of the world, whether in "hard" or "soft" style. The key value of "soft power" however, was not in its ideological call to anything, nor was it intended to cover up hard intentions or distract with soft-heartedness.

Michael Kahn Ackermann, former President of the Goethe Institute in China and now a senior consultant to the Confucius Institute, says a state's image cannot be built artificially, especially when it concerns culture. Countries naturally want to show their best side to the public, but Ackermann does not think there is any excuse for forming a "perfect" image that hides deficiencies.

Stating that CIKU has been playing an essential role in cultural exchanges and people to people relations by bridging the language barrier, Liang said that Nepalese people have been showing immense enthusiasm to learn the language as a result of which Chinese language has been included in the curriculum of many colleges in Nepal.