If anything, its increasing influence as a global soft power is even more impressive than its 'hardware' achievements, be it in terms of armaments or automobile production. From Bollywood to new-age gurus, from yoga to basmati rice, Brand India has earned itself international recognition. It's all dressed up and ready to sit at the high table with the rest of the global grown-ups.

It is soft power that will to a large extent make or unmake superpowers of the future. China and India are the obvious candidates to be considered as the future superpowers. India will have to pit itself against the might of the Chinese economic machine.

“Our strategy is to focus on domestic and regional growth,” she said. But aside from the hard economic power, she added, the creative industries and the soft power of culture are also on the rise. “Indonesia has the potential to grow its creative industries and it also adds to national pride,” she said. “The challenge is how to make it grow.”

The ROC government has long faced an array of seemingly insurmountable obstacles as it goes about its business in a world increasingly shaped by the forces of globalization. But these have been largely overcome through the use of soft power, which can be defined as a country’s ability to influence events through persuasion and attraction as opposed to military of financial coercion.

The dominance of western brands in China has long been a sore spot for the country's leaders. You can't walk through a Chinese commercial district without bumping into an Apple or Prada store occupying the city's finest prime real estate.

Today’s article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “More Drones, Fewer Troops” looks at the policy behind the increasing use and reliance on drones, but it misses an essential point: unmanned warfare’s impact on public opinion and public diplomacy.