From China’s point of view, such a bank makes perfect sense.For the developing countries in Asia, it will be a new source of funding. For China, it will be a channel to strengthen soft power and enhance economic benefits. 

Jamaican Ambassador to Brazil, Her Excellency Alison Stone Roofe, says her embassy staff has already started preparations to capitalize on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The festival has struck a multi-year deal with the Japan Foundation’s recently created Asia Center to help it bring in Asian films and film-makers to Tokyo and also to expand Japanese cultural influence in Asia.

Brazilian Embassy cultural attache Raphael Tosti de Almeida Vieira has an ace up his sleeve. (...)His ace is Brazilian music. “It’s the Brazilian soft power,” Tosti says of his country’s rich musical heritage that includes internationally beloved genres such as samba and bossa nova.

But fearing that the West wants to prosecute their leader, Kim Jong Un, for human rights abuses, North Korean officials are beginning to rely on soft words instead of hard power.

The more Japan’s global relevance in economic, political and military terms seems to decline, the more it cares about projecting soft power. 

Foreign policy experts are saying that the back-and-forth is demonstrative of how public health issues are building bridges between countries that have a history of being at odds with one another.