The Ministry of Defence should be congratulated not only for taking this most important initiative to hold this Seminar and for the sixth consecutive year, but also for the deciding on a topic “Soft power and its influence on global issues” which is most relevant to the world at this particular time, for Soft Power is essentially the power of Diplomacy which lays absolute emphasis on persuasion, and is the need of the hour. 

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.

Our diplomacy must be more nimble–setting priorities, forming coalitions around shared values and interests, and working assiduously to maintain the broad appeal of the international order. 

Lebanon and Jordan now have the highest number of refugees worldwide. And with the humanitarian crisis continuing, a leading British think tank on foreign affairs suggests Britain should allow 10,000 Syrian refugees to settle in the UK to enhance Middle East relations — despite Britain's controversial role in its foreign and military interventions in the region.

Today, the American Security Project, a Washington-based think tank, released a new report outlining how the Pentagon is trying to influence public opinion in foreign countries. The report is framed around the question of how military public diplomacy can help achieve U.S. military objectives abroad without the need for what the white paper refers to in true newspeak-infused euphemistic language as “kinetic actions”;  in plain English — killing and wounding people overseas.

Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels based think-tank released an enlightening research report this week entitled “Spin doctors to the autocrats: how European PR firms whitewash repressive regimes.” It reveals how often the PR industry faces ethical challenges with big money being dangled in front of us to represent controversial interests. 

In 2014, New Diplomacy Initiative organized 13 symposiums in Japan and four in the U.S. to discuss issues such as Sino-Japanese relations and Abe’s push to enable the Self-Defense Forces to come to the defense of an ally.

In an interview with The Washington Post in November, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the U.S.-Japan alliance “the cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy,” a stance supported by the U.S. State Department, whose website asserts, “Japan contributes irreplaceable political, financial and moral support to U.S.-Japan diplomatic efforts.” However, such official comments on Tokyo-Washington ties are misleading, believes Sayo Saruta, the director of Japanese think tank New Diplomacy Initiative.