As an economy prospers, its culture perhaps begins to grow in appeal. Over the last 100 years or so – jeans, Coke, McDonald’s, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hollywood — about everything American had been lapped up as things of global cool. They still are. The 20th was entirely America’s century.

Today China’s projection of “soft power” involves a $7 billion international radio and TV broadcasting campaign. In funding, languages reached, frequencies used, and hours on the air, it already outpaces the two other major international broadcasters: Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC World Service.

What is going on here? China, it turns out, wants to increase its soft power by having Xinhua compete with news organizations like CNN and the BBC and is hiring a large number of western journalists. In fact, the government is pouring money into this effort.

After the midterm elections, Barack Obama will get a chance to follow a long line of American presidents who have had setbacks at home. He will go abroad. His long-delayed Asian trip this week - India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan - is by chance perfectly timed.

What the West needs most is a fresh look at the full range of its capabilities and interests. Only then can its power fulfill its purpose. Seen as a wonder tool, smart power has been embraced as a fresh and benign aspect of power; a definably formulaic mix of soft (cultural) power and hard (military) power.

Co-author: Andras Simonyi

Budapest, Hungary -- In the run-up to the NATO summit Nov. 19 in Lisbon, the transatlantic community must confront not just the burning issues it faces (from Afghanistan to Russia), but the way free nations can and should wield their power for global progress.

A century ago, the rise of Germany and the fear it created in Britain led to world war. Some analysts predict a similar fate from the rise of China and the fear that is creating in the United States.