President Barack Obama is underscoring the administration’s ‘strategic pivot’ to Asia with his current trip to the Pacific. This column has criticised this pivot and the botched public diplomacy campaign that managed to irritate friends, allies and, of course, China. The Pentagon attempted to minimise the PR damage, renaming the pivot “rebalancing”.

Talk of PDA… Our own Prince Charming-politician Shashi Tharoor may have won some well-deserved acclaim from his wife Sunanda Pushkar recently for his very public display of affection with her, but Tharoor, it appears, has much to learn in the department of hands-on diplomacy from US President Barack Obama.

Indonesia was not on US President Barack Obama’s Southeast Asian itinerary as he made his first trip abroad since winning reelection. But like many visitors to Southeast Asia, he might have enjoyed a brief respite from worries back home when he was in our region.

The U.S. Department of State announced today that Indonesian performers Jogja Hip Hop Foundation is traveling from Yogyakarta, Indonesia to communities across America as part of a cultural diplomacy initiative, Center Stage, from November 15 to December 8.

The Muslim American Citizens Coalition and Public Affairs Council (MACCPAC) in collaboration with the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD) hosted a post election dialogue between both local and national Muslim leadership and various U.S government agencies on Wednesday, November 14th, in Washington, D.C.

In order to tighten the artistic and cultural connection between the U.S. and Taiwan, the MMA has donated to MoNTUE 100 pieces of plaster sculptures that date from between the Medieval period to the late 19th century.The Public Diplomacy Section Chief of the American Institute in Taiwan, Sheila Paskman (裴士蓮), said that cultural soft power and diplomacy have brought Taiwan and America a new method of communication and exchange.