Since the election of Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister, New Delhi has appeared determined to create “Brand India” by harnessing its soft power resources. This was very much on display at the meeting Modi had with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, during the latter’s visit to New Delhi late last month.

Koala diplomacy involved world leaders getting photographed and cuddling with Koala named Jimbelung- the furry grey animals, shy native marsupials of Australia. Jimbelung, which means friend in a local Aboriginal dialect, was later gifted to Japan.

A musical homage to President Xi Jinping of China and his wife, Peng Liyuan, has circulated widely online in recent days, a sign of how the public face of Chinese leadership has changed since Mr. Xi took office two years ago.

Last week state-owned China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC) signed a lucrative contract with Nigeria to build an 870-mile coastal railroad from Lagos to Calabar, two of the West African nation’s leading cities. 

Much of American public diplomacy, like much of the rest of U.S. foreign policy, is reactive. When a crisis erupts, policymakers respond as best they can to limit the damage. In this social media era, they are often outpaced by those who are better prepared to use new communication tools to deliver their messages.

Last month China’s president Xi Jinping presented his pragmatic vision for China’s arts and creative industries. (...)Whereas his predecessor Hu Jintao saw culture as a means to boost China’s global prestige and soft power, Xi is as concerned with shaping China’s hearts and minds.

While Modi has been raising the country's global profile for a while now with high-profile visits to Japan, the US and, most recently, to Australia, to be followed later with Russia and the UK, so far we have tended to dismiss each one of his visits as more hype than substance.(...)President Barack Obama's acceptance of Modi's invitation to be the guest of honour at the Republic Day parade is possibly the tipping point that separates pure atmospherics from reality.