A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Turkey Promises Cultural Diversity at Major Book Fair
Turkey promised this week to showcase its cultural diversity at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair in October, where its literature will have guest-of-honor status this year. Speaking from Frankfurt, organizers said 350 authors and translators from Turkey will be at the world's principal book fair, presenting their work to publishers from around the globe. Ethnic minorities will be included, said Muge Gursoy Sokmen, co-chair of the organizing committee.
Suited for the New Diplomacy?
This surge in war-zone assignments is an extension of the "transformational diplomacy" for which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called in a 2006 speech at Georgetown University. She said then that Foreign Service officers must learn to partner more directly with the military. True, no doubt, but as they have done so, these new ties have raised fears that diplomacy itself is becoming militarized.
How the Chinese Communists destroyed ancient Beijing
Book review: To the Chinese of centuries past, Beijing was both the centre of the imperial state and an architectural expression of the spiritual order uniting man and heaven. A capital that survived the collapse of the empire, invasion by Japan and China’s civil war, has been conclusively doomed by the 2008 Olympic Games and by planners, speculators and foreign architects hungry for prestige.
Immigrators embrace Beijing Olympic torch with enthusiasm
Immigrators from the Three Gorges region celebrated the Beijing Olympic torch relay with enthusiasm when it kicked off in heavy rains in Wanzhou, Chongqing, Southwestern China Sunday morning.
China clampdown for Olympic torch in Xinjiang
China has tightened controls on Muslims in its remote west ahead of the Olympic torch's arrival next week to thwart any actions aimed at disrupting the relay, residents and exiles said. The measures include detaining thousands in the Xinjiang region and forcing Muslim religious officials to undergo "political education" on "protecting" the Olympics, said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uighur Congress.
In China, the game has changed
Playing host to the Olympics may be forcing new ways on the rigid regime. Nowhere is this change more evident than in its policy toward Sudan, where Beijing's stance has undergone a quiet revolution. Change is afoot in China's policy toward Myanmar as well. Beijing's newfound flexibility in foreign policy, however, has not been matched by a new regard for Chinese human rights.
Dragon boat racers send good wishes to Beijing Olympics
Pham Van Hung, captain for Vietnamese dragon boat team, said: "It's my third visit to China. Chinese people are very kind and easy-going. I like this country very much. Sports play an very important role in relationships between countries. Hosting the 2008 Olympic games in China, the most populous country in the world, can make the whole world know China much better. It must be an unprecedented event.
The animosity does not run deep
The Pew Research Center on Thursday issued its new Global Attitudes survey, and there's some good news. "America's image has improved over the past year in many countries," says Pew. For 16 of the 20 countries that were polled both this year and last, U.S. favorability ratings are up.
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