The capital is primed for a slot on the global cultural tourism map as it opens its doors to unique performances, fusion projects and artists from 18 countries in a mega showcase of arts and culture for 10 days beginning on Dec 3.

But some had grander hopes for the Expo – namely, that it would ‘showcase China’s soft power’... As it happened, the events that swirled around the Expo’s closing weeks showcased something quite else: Why China doesn’t have much soft power and why the West, broadly defined, still has it in spades.

PDiN Monitor Editorial Staff
Sherine B. Walton, Editor-in-Chief
Naomi Leight, Managing Editor
Marissa Cruz-Enriquez, Associate Editor

This weekend’s Nato summit in Lisbon concluded a flurry of top-level international meetings that, from President Barack Obama’s point of view, were frustrating, unproductive, or plain embarrassing. However, his advisers wish you to know that US standing in the world is not the least bit diminished.

The post-mortem has begun on the recent visit of US President Barak Obama to India. Preliminary autopsies suggest a heavy leaning towards optimism and even braggart assertions about the bilateral relations.

It’s time for the South Korean Army to develop “soft power” ― the ability to attract and persuade rather than force, a defense experts said Tuesday. In a security forum in Seoul, retired Gen. Lee Hee-won, a special advisor to the President for defense and security affairs, called for building a “smart” Army to better adapt to changes.

Science diplomacy (SD), a term which encompasses both the use of international scientific cooperation to advance foreign policy objectives and the use of diplomacy to achieve scientific ends, represents a critical component within the broader public diplomacy ambit. Science diplomacy is an expression of soft power.

In the recent days, controversial Turkey-Iran relations come to the fore. According to Turkish Today’s Zaman Newspaper, Iran offered to resume nuclear talks with the United States and other world powers on Nov. 15 after pushing for a shift of venue to Turkey. “The P5+1 -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- had earlier offered talks on Nov. 15-17 in Vienna.