President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took over as head of the Taipei-based General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC) on Thursday, outlining three missions for the organization including boosting Taiwan's cultural power and promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation with China.

Does anybody remember soft power? Apparently Canada has it in abundance. It just doesn’t work. Soft power is, like so many trendy ideas in this country, an American invention.

To many Americans, globalization may mean Americanization but, in China, globalization is Koreanization. This is the impact of Hallyu (the Korean word for “Korean wave”), which began in 1997. Hallyu began with Korean television dramas and today extends throughout Chinese life: k-drama, k-pop, movies, fashion, food, and beauty.  It is argued to be the only example of a cultural power “that threatens the dominance of American culture.”

The clash between the two has led to a nationwide debate over the merits and flaws of the "Chongqing model" and the "Guangdong model". Liu said the debate had focused on defining socialist "core values", "cultural soft power" and universal values, which was raised and soon muffled by the top ideological machinery - the Central Party School.

To build itself into a cultural power, China faces the urgent task of safeguarding its "cultural security", strengthening its soft power and boosting the international influence of its culture.