Two weeks ago the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee warned that cuts of almost £40 million to the Foreign Office would lead to a "diminution of the UK's influence and soft power", leaving it with a budget smaller than that of Kent County Council.

In keeping with IMEMO’s longstanding orientation toward economic analysis, “Outlook: 2030” draws heavily on hard economic data, including figures for GDP, labor productivity, R&D investment, currency reserves, population growth and other important metrics... Outlook” even embraces the terms “soft power” and “smart power” coined by Western experts during the past two decades.

After highlighting the Obama administration's focus on soft power, in an uncharacteristically militaristic turn, Clinton emphasized the need for every country to strive for freedom, regardless of the cost.

In good promotion and marketing, including "soft power" projection, the starting point is the nature of the product itself...China now devotes increased resources to promotion – the rapid overseas expansion of CCTV is one example. But resources will not be effective unless they are integrated with the product.

China’s rapid growth and expanding influence in the International community has generated heated debates as to whether it has achieved ‘great power’ status. Whereas the Chinese are content with ‘emerging power’ status, its unprecedented growth and influence in the International community depict a nation that has taken charge.

Only after it regains confidence in its culture, the Chinese nation, which has a beautiful language, will get enough say in international affairs, be able to compete with other countries in various fields such as economy and culture, carry forward its civilization, and contribute greatly to global cultural exchanges.

One would have thought that after that 1979 Bollywood breach of the Chinese market, Indian movies would have found slow but ready acceptance in that country. However, the next Bollywood film to make as massive an impact was the Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots, nearly 32 years later

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underscores ‘cooperation’ and ‘competition’ as the elements defining the Sino-Indian relationship. But for the present, competition is the buzzword. Seasoned diplomats admit to the lack of common and contemporary cultural elements besides Bollywood that can project soft power across the militarised borders.