China is taking note. It has begun flying Indonesia's Islamic scholars to China on study tours in order to show how Muslim minorities thrive in China, despite its official atheism. It's the kind of public diplomacy that the US has used for decades to burnish its image, so it's hardly surprising that China is doing the same.

Heather Layton and Brian Bailey set off from Rochester, NY... arranged a contemporary painting show, attended the region's major cultural festival and mounted a screening of films by both emerging New York and Naga filmmakers.

All over the world, China is using its powers of persuasion — through its products, its potent economy, an increasingly sophisticated diplomatic service and the appeal of its culture — to win over consumers and make it easier for Chinese companies to enter vital markets...

For years, the United Nations has taken pains to present itself to the world as an impartial, international institution... but...no matter how hard the UN tries to be neutral, many, especially in the Muslim world, see it as a proxy of Western powers.

“The relationships forged through operations like Continuing Promise fosters trust, collaboration, and cooperation with our friends and allies,” Nickerson said, adding the mission “also be characterized as defense support to public diplomacy...

Day to day public diplomacy deals with particular groups, networks and individuals but it is also important to keep the big picture in mind. That big picture is not just the overall image of the country but the image of the preferred international order.

Improbably, I was in Calgary, another stage in the campaign of public diplomacy on which I had embarked shortly after my arrival in Canada five months before - explaining to Canadians how the United States regarded the changing world and how it regarded Canada's place in that new world.

Two Pakistani journalists filing reports home from Washington are quietly drawing their salaries from US State Department funding through a nonprofit intermediary, highlighting the sophisticated nature of America’s efforts to shape its image abroad.