Furthermore, despite making impressive efforts to cultivate its soft power, Joseph Nye concludes that China “has had a limited return on its investment.” Perhaps most importantly, while the past decade has undermined global opinion of U.S. power and policy, China has been unable to develop strong alliances.

As the second largest economy in the world, China has been working to improve its cultural soft power. Last week, a consortium of Chinese companies agreed to set up a joint venture with the US-based DreamWorks Animation, with agendas to make a sequel of blockbuster movie Kung Fu Panda 3 later this year.

Seoul has certainly been successful in its soft power efforts globally over the past decade, and has consequentially accrued political capital and financial contracts not only in the Americas but also in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

So imagine the surprise when a survey of the world’s leading soft powers comes up with, you guessed it, America in top slot. The survey was not done by some adjunct of the American policy establishment, either. It was published by Monocle, a book-sized, chunky magazine published in London and styling itself as a “briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design.”

What does Asia’s increasing prominence mean for ASEAN – a ten-member political community whose regional presence has received growing attention from the global community of late? Already Washington has embarked on its “forward-deployed diplomacy” strategy in the region as evinced by Clinton’s attendance at last year’s ASEAN Regional Forum and her landmark visit to Burma in December.

With so many global challenges, where can the biggest impact be made on global publics? How can the case for public diplomacy be made more effectively to governments, corporations, NGOs and individuals? We can start by tackling the most pressing global issue—water. Water is essential for human life and although we are a blue planet, water is a scarce resource. More than one billion people do not have access to safe water.

In a recent report, SERI analyzed how Korea’s hosting of international events such as the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the 2011 Daegu IAAF World Championships alongside the Korean wave and an upswing in global activities by Korea’s multinational corporations have contributed to Korea’s move up in the rankings of the Nation Brands Index.

Countries project power and influence in a number of ways. Traditionally they do so through military and economic clout. But education matters too. Alumni of Australian universities and colleges can be strong advocates of our cause and even our interests. They understand us and a crucial phase of their lives was spent with us and learning from us. This is soft power but real power.