China's global soft power push is being refined through forays into Australia during the Year of Chinese Culture here. Ten writers recently came from China under the new format via the Chinese Writers Association, a government organisation, for a four-day conference with Australian counterparts.

...[a] full-blown geopolitical rivalry cannot occur on one dimension only – it needs to go beyond, say, a military capabilities competition to include diplomacy, economics and even soft power.

American foreign policy must reorient itself to the soft power of exporting American values and know-how so the Sotomayors, Brins, Omidyars and Zakarias in Puerto Rico, Russia, Iran and India can find success at home.

The Prime Minister said the international community needed to use a combination of military action or "hard power" and "soft power" like diplomacy and financial aid. He argued that the people of the Arab world had made clear their aspirations for greater freedom...

There has been a flurry of activity on the public diplomacy front in India recently...From international conferences to social media campaigns, the Public Diplomacy Division of the Government of India is in overdrive to shape a desired perception of India across the world.

There has been a flurry of activity on the public diplomacy front in India recently. With bigger economic clout in the international stage, India now feels the need to be seen, heard and engaged. From international conferences to social media campaigns, the Public Diplomacy Division of the Government of India is in overdrive to shape a desired perception of India across the world.

The cynical take believes that the U.S. has in fact changed its foreign policy as Obama claims and as his responses to the Arab Spring this year suggest, but has made an exception for Bahrain... The Bahraini opposition is largely Shia, but most Arabs (and most Muslims, for that matter) are Sunni. The "soft power" dividends of pushing Bahrain to reform, the U.S. may have decided, just aren't there.

While Beijing’s mission to the E.U. in Brussels rarely used to engage with the diplomatic community and issue statements on China’s core interests, she said, its soft-power strategy in the region is winning over some of Europe's political elites.