What should be included in China's public diplomacy? Can China's public diplomacy produce results? What kind of effect will it have on the average person? The answers to these questions have become increasingly important in today's public opinion-led world.

On the economy, 62 percent of respondents agreed that China’s growing economy was good, while 25 percent disagreed, and 37 percent agreed that a growing US economy was good, while 53 percent disagreed. Somewhat similar results were recorded by a 2008 survey on soft power conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCOGA).

The timing probably couldn’t have been much worse. Almost a year to the day until the 2012 Olympics Games begin in London, the world was treated to images of rioters smashing storefronts and setting buildings ablaze in the capital and beyond.

iWhen the Olympic Games end on 12 August 2012, all eyes will be on London. But the organisers of Edinburgh's festivals hope that, when the spectacle of the closing ceremony has faded, the gaze will travel to Scotland's capital.

In the face of China’s growing dominance in international politics and its assertion of sovereignty over Taiwan, Taipei has resorted to what it calls “cultural diplomacy” to further the island’s interests abroad...

These initiatives are part of the Indian government's 'Look East' policy. ICCR president talked with Shobhan Saxena about India's growing soft power and need for more engagement with countries in our extended neighbourhood...

Tibet’s newly elected leader, Lobsang Sangay, assumed office on Monday. The baton of the Tibetan freedom movement has been passed on to the new generation born and raised outside Tibet, and China must recognise Sangay’s considerable efforts towards achieving democracy and justice.

Pakistan’s use of terror as an instrument of proxy war against India is, of course, well established. And although successive Indian governments have deployed the full force of “coercive diplomacy” ... they haven’t always enjoyed enormous success.