The February issue of PDiN Monitor focuses on The Future of Public Diplomacy and will introduce a new structure for CPD's regular analysis of public diplomacy in the news. Beginning this month, CPD will graph overall trends in public diplomacy news aggregated daily in PDiN.

While the latest aircraft carrier movements and military maneuvers here are chronicled closely in U.S. media, significant public diplomacy initiatives go largely unreported. This past week provided a prime example: For his first-ever visit, Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong led a 500-person delegation including party officials, business leaders and Chinese celebrities.

TAIPEI --- While the latest aircraft carrier movements and military maneuvers here are chronicled closely in U.S. media, significant public diplomacy initiatives go largely unreported. This past week provided a prime example:

Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong’s week-long visit to Taipei has been front-page news in this region, in newspapers from Korea to Singapore. For his first-ever visit, the mayor led a 500-person delegation – yes, five hundred people – including party officials, business leaders and Chinese celebrities.

China’s new cross-strait action plan includes inviting Taiwanese to engage in “long stay” visits in China’s first-tier cities, living with selected Chinese families in an attempt to forge grassroots friendships. The Chinese authorities will also continue to encourage Taiwanese to study and work in China.

The successes chalked up by Lung transformed Taipei into a world-class city of culture, explaining why she is tipped to repeat this feat on a national scale and take Taiwan’s soft power to the next level.

Essayist and cultural critic Lung Ying-tai, who took over as the new Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) minister yesterday, said she believes a nation’s strength is determined by its “soft power” and that culture begins in the most remote places.

Such "food diplomacy" allows Taiwan to demonstrate its soft power and helps strengthen trade in agricultural products between Taiwan and the United States, said Chang.