By Li Hongmei, People's Daily Online

Since last year, the world diplomatic arena, long plagued by the ghost of saber-rattling practice and the desperate showdown, seemed to have shifted to embrace some tender touch, in that the super powers have since tried to temper toughness with gentleness in their diplomatic campaigns, or resort to 'soft power' and 'smart power' as concluded in popular political writings.

It is increasingly evident that under the currents of contentiousness and competition, a spring of warmth started to be surfaced which appears likely to thaw the aged diplomatic ice. Even though the 'warmth diplomacy' is by no means a universal goodwill which can definitely kill the likelihood for the bellicose powers to meet on the battlefield, it will at least billow into the air some gentle breeze instead of gunpowder smoke.

As is well-known, 'warmth diplomacy' has served as the cornerstone for New China's diplomacy. Ever since the late Premier Zhou Enlai, who is also the first Foreign Minister in New China, the Chinese leadership has consistently paid special attention to making friends and coming to terms with people of different backgrounds and beliefs. Deng Xiaoping, as a strategist and tactician, combined his diplomatic thinking with the characteristics of Mao and Zhou, and secured many useful pointers to the current Chinese foreign policy.

The incumbent leadership carries on the spirit of the 'warmth diplomacy,' President Hu Jintao put forward 'People First' as his administrative goal at home and, in practice he has incorporated the goal into part of his governing philosophy and extended it to his foreign policy. In the past years and whoever he visited, super powers or next-door neighbors, President Hu always impressed others with human warmth, subtlety and tenacity, which has showcased that today's Chinese leadership has paid more heed to drawing on their charisma and statesmanship to win friendship and respect from others.

Perhaps, today's super powers have also realized the intimidating stick would only create the reaction of horror, and even worse, a fiercer resistance and hostility from the target countries. And there are already many cases vividly illustrating both coercion and manipulation have simply proved undoing in diplomatic campaigns. Diplomacy, as it were, acts like a tug of war, with the winner being not merely the one with physical strength but also possessing skills and perseverance.

The new U.S. administration seems to have been fully cognizant of the fact that carrot tastes good than stick, and therefore embarks on an experiment to engage rather than estrange their foes. This can be seen either in President Obama's hat-in-hand stance in his recently wrapped-up Mid-East trip and outreach to his American neighbors including the arch-foes like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, or the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's subdued attitudes in her debut trip to Asia, 'a listening trip' as she modestly defined. Even in the face of the DPRK nuke threat, Obama, in a clear departure from his predecessor President Bush, remains low-key and still leaves a wide enough margin for negotiation and reconciliation.

The recalibrated U.S. foreign policy displays the new administration's strategy of pushing for a worldwide conciliatory diplomacy in order to salvage the sinking American interests. The U.S. is not alone to play the card of 'warmth diplomacy,' as its European allies follow suit rapidly bending down to tender means to win the international support when mired in the economic recession. Even Russia, always criticized by the international community of Chauvinism in its foreign policy, publicly stated it is willing to forego confrontation and take a conciliatory attitude in dealing with foreign affairs.

Admittedly, the Western powers suddenly dropped pretentious airs, mainly on the grounds of their domestic and foreign strategies, and it is more of a makeshift measure. Unlike China, 'warmth diplomacy' stems from its time-honored Confucius traditions, and has been ingrained in its foreign policy. With time, it has become a natural diplomatic style unique to China. Time flies imperceptibly but inevitably, China's peaceful diplomacy is getting more matured and turning on its charm.

Facing the U-turn made by the West in readjusting their foreign policies, China, first of all, looks on it as a good trend conducive to the international peace and development. But meanwhile, China has to face up to the potential risks brought about by the Western carrot diplomacy, which could mean to China both a diminished space for its diplomatic maneuvers and a shrinking circle of friends.