Coordinator for the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) Dawn McCall is scheduled to visit Taiwan on Tuesday to experience first-hand US public diplomacy outreach, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) announced yesterday.

Perception matters in international diplomacy, and even more so for the U.S.-China relationship. There are vast differences in political systems and institutions, social norms, historical and cultural legacies, and the ever-present information asymmetry. Mutual perceptions can get easily skewed, with real repercussions for policy. Though the U.S.-China relationship has proven surprisingly resilient, it is also colored by an unspoken unease, especially among elites in both countries.

When Israeli pop superstar Rita Jahanforuz told her friends she wanted to record an album in Farsi, they thought she must have gone mad. The 50-year-old Iranian-born, Jewish singer, who is usually known just by her first name, recalled: "'They all said, 'You want to record an album in the language of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Who will listen to it?' I didn't know why I had to do it, I just did. It's like someone lit a match. What's happening now is beyond what I ever imagined."

As part of plans to attract investment from Europe's economic powerhouse of Germany and harness the potentials of Diaspora Gambians based there, The Gambia government recently dispatched a strategically important delegation to Cologne, Germany.

Two global institutions – the United Nations and the Olympic Games – face charges that they are using “unaccountable and out of control” private security contractors. One of the companies at the heart of both controversies is G4S, a private security company in the UK.

President Thein Sein of Myanmar addressed a dinner of American business executives in this city near the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat on Friday, inviting them to invest in his impoverished country after an absence of 25 years. The appearance of Mr. Thein Sein, who traveled to Cambodia from his nearby country for the occasion, was the latest sign of a significant warming of relations between the United States and Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country that had been firmly in China’s orbit.

Inviting young Pacific islanders to a two-week Taiwan study camp is very much in line with President Ma Ying-jeou’s cultural diplomacy started in 2010 to highlight Taiwan’s soft power. This was stated by the Director-General of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Mr James C.K Tien during his remarks to welcome 28 Pacific Islands’ participants that make up Taiwan’s allies from the Pacific at a welcome reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reception hall in Taipei.

There is an old saying in India: “Come visit India as a tourist, and you will leave as a family member.” It certainly sounded like a friendly family gathering last month. From June 11th to 13th, senior government leaders from the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy convened in Washington, DC for the third annual U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue.