As Canada reduces cultural staff and closes libraries and offices, it's important to remember that soft power is by no means inferior to commercial, political, or military facets.

Early last month, the Indonesian government held its first ever congress of Indonesian diaspora in Los Angeles. With the rising importance of Indonesia in international relations, engaging its citizens overseas is one logical way to increase the country’s soft power and culture abroad.

We should pursue a strategy of diplomatic engagement by inviting as many nations as possible to set shop in Kuwait...With that, we should work hard to establish satellite offices and coordination bureaus of international governmental and non-governmental organizations here in Kuwait bringing in a great number of diplomats as possible.

While Iran's weapons and financial aid to the Taliban often make headlines, Tehran's soft power efforts in Afghanistan at the expense of U.S. interests are largely overlooked. According to Davood Moradian, former senior policy advisor at Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry, Iran spends $100 million a year in Afghanistan on funding media, religious and cultural organizations.

Telling them Australia is jolly friendly to Asia, close to it, wants to be a part of it, has a nice safe lifestyle -- that's not enough. We should be hard-nosed about the career advantages to be gained from our courses: they all get that. But as for the soft power stuff, we should try harder to stay with the big players in that league.

Australia and the US have previously expressed concern at China resorting to chequebook diplomacy but Carr appeared to soften Canberra's stance in an interview with the Australian Financial Review. He urged the region to learn to live with Beijing "developing all the accoutrements of a major power".

The strength of Taiwan's soft power lies in the country's ability to combine both these aspects, Lung said during a live interview on Voice of America (VOA), part of the itinerary of a two-week tour of the United States, her first visit to the U.S. since assuming the post in February.

Taiwan’s cultural power lies in its incorporation of features of Chinese tradition and modern Western society, ROC Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai said. Today’s Taiwan has moderated the authoritarian part of Chinese culture through maintenance of traditional gentleness and generosity, along with the assimilation of an open, law-abiding civil society.