Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, wants to know why China has 60 cultural centers in the United States while the United States has none in China. Lugar questioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the disparity a couple months ago, as reported by the Washington Times:

“The Chinese, according to our records, have now established 60 Confucius centers here in the United States, but they are permitting only four of our centers to be built in China,” Mr. Lugar told Mrs. Clinton. “So I call this to your attention for some potential negotiations with [our] Chinese friends, as we try to extend this idea of diplomacy centers, which I think is important.”
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Becoming a Foreign Service officer – a prestigious position in the U.S. diplomatic corps – isn’t easy. There’s a written test and an oral test and less than 10 percent pass both. But for college students who may be curious about what it’s like to serve as an American diplomat there’s another option: the Virtual Student Foreign Service.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the creation of the program in  May 13 commencement speech at New York University:
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