China has unveiled a 60-second promotional video on the huge screens in New York City's Times Square to coincide with President Hu Jintao's US visit this week -- a flashy bit of soft diplomacy.

Shi Anbin, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, and Zheng Yannong, deputy director of China International Public Relations Association, talk with the Guangzhou Daily about how China should enact a public relations (PR) strategy to enhance its image in the world.

At the end of this century’s first decade, we can observe how the locus of power has shifted in world politics. The G20 is replacing the G7 as the overseer of the global economy. The need to restructure the U.N. Security Council to be more representative of the international order is profoundly pressing. And emerging powers such as Brazil, India, Turkey, and others are playing very assertive roles in global economic affairs.

From the itinerary and speeches made during the visit, it would seem that Indo-US relations are underpinned by interface over three elements: democracy, economics and security. Obama’s Parliament speech flagged prosperity, security and democracy as three dimensions of an emerging partnership between the two countries, but it would seem that really two of these still lie in the realm of aspiration.

Follow the pandas: they remain a good guide to where China’s biggest foreign policy interests lie. Since “panda diplomacy” began in the 1950s with an overture to the Soviet Union, gifts of cuddly-looking bears with cutesy names have helped point to the big themes in Beijing’s strategic positioning.

CPD University Fellow and Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, Jay Wang's new book, Soft Power in China: Public Diplomacy through Communication, has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan as part of their Global Public Diplomacy series.

There has been an officially sanctioned revival of Confucius in recent years, as authorities have turned to his teachings to reach out to the international community to strengthen China's "soft power" and counter an invasion of Western culture.

President Ma Ying-jeou says that he hopes to make Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific education hub. Ma was speaking at a forum organized by Commonwealth magazine in Taiwan. The president spoke about how Taiwan's higher education can become a major industry.