In the past decade, the United States has accused China of all sorts of aggressive actions in cyberspace against American companies and government agencies. Most often, they involve theft of intellectual properties in high-tech industries. But the revelations by US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden about pervasive cybersurveillance and spying against both foreigners and American citizens completely knocked the wind out of Washington's diplomatic onslaught.

Since beginning her new profession as a Public Diplomacy Envoy, Kwan has had the opportunity to work with two presidents and three Secretaries of State, and she continues to make strides in the global arena as a promoter of American values and athletic interests.

As Beijing intensifies efforts to sway U.S. public opinion, a Chinese organization focused on the disputed South China Sea has set up what its founders say is China’s first think tank inside the Washington Beltway.

On his America tour, he makes the case for the democratic alternative to China’s influence in East Asia. By any measure, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the United States has been a resounding success. Having just wrapped up three full days in Washington, D.C., Abe is now in California, visiting both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Before Washington, he stopped in Boston and New York, making this the longest visit by a Japanese leader in decades.

The Department of State has renewed the Charter for the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. The Commission appraises U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics. The Advisory Commission may conduct studies, inquiries, and meetings, as it deems necessary and assembles and disseminates information, issue reports and other publications, subject to the approval of the Chairperson, in consultation with the Executive Director. 

Earlier this year, StandWithUs (SWU), a pro-Israeli American advocacy group that coordinates its activities closely with the Israeli government, finally unveiled an SWU-China division for its organization in an event that marked a joint celebration of the Chinese New Year and Jewish Tu B’Shvat in Jerusalem.

Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister, a US-educated connoisseur of Washington's diplomatic scene and longtime adviser to the Kingdom's rulers, is an articulate spokesman for his country's new assertive approach to the Middle East's growing conflicts.