No matter where in the world you live or what sector you are involved in, you have to take into account China's rise. China continues to invest and buy things abroad in its drive to secure access to natural resources in places like Afghanistan and Australia and to exert power.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received Monday US Special Envoy on Science, Bruce Alberts, as Indonesia and the US are eyeing for enhanced cooperation in the field of science and technology.

It’s hard to tell whether Arizona’s reputation at home and abroad is going to be damaged more by enactment on April 23rd of the state’s draconian new immigration law or by the WE cable network’s new reality program “Sunset Days,” a sort of Geriatrics Gone Wild in a Phoenix-area retirement community.

Most of Asia suffered from hubris during the Asian miracle -- but not China. Expo 2010 in Shanghai might be a test of whether China can think outside of the West's intellectual box. It might be a showcase of the charisma of Chinese culture...

Joseph Lee, a lecturer at the University of Nottingham Business School, is quite optimistic about the public perception of China. “I think to a certain extent that the British are happy about the economic rise of China. They don’t view that as a threat.”

It is true that China’s hosting of the event, especially on the heels of the spectacular Summer Olympics two years ago, sends an unmistakable signal of the country’s return to global prominence. Nonetheless, the Expo is also a grand stage where, over the next six months, nearly 200 participant countries will be courting and engaging the Chinese public.

To characterize the Shanghai Expo as mainly China’s showcasing of its soft power misses an important point.

Despite widespread talk of a rising China and a declining America, the latest BBC World Service poll shows not just strong residual American soft power but actually an increase. At the same time, the numbers depict a China whose influence is viewed as more negative than positive in a growing number of countries.