A set of North Korean propaganda posters is set to go on show in Beijing this week in a rare exhibition outside of the country. North Korea tour company owner Nicholas Bonner, a Briton, has found a way to put a selection of striking replica posters on show without falling foul of officials in the secretive state.

China's capital, Beijing, became the first city in the world to be chosen to host both the summer and winter Olympic Games. It beat out a bid from Kazakhstan. NPR's Anthony Kuhn has the reaction from Beijing.

China’s Confucius Institute, a controversial arm of the Chinese regime’s public diplomacy apparatus, is coming under pressure in Russia, with prosecutors from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far east of the country calling for the local branch to be closed because it is not properly registered with the authorities.

The website of Lianhe Zaobao has helped Singapore's leading Chinese-language newspaper become an important symbol of the Republic's soft power, a prominent Chinese thinker said last night as the online portal marked its 20th anniversary.

The delegates recognized that there would be many hurdles to traverse for the military and scientists to fully harness the fruits of Arctic diplomacy. In particular, the distrust of China as a non-Arctic nation taking interest in the region needed to be moderated with a recognition of other global powers having presence in areas very distant from their own regional vicinity.

It is China’s heightened interest in South African media, however, which has raised questions about the country’s intentions and objectives which could be viewed as the seeking of “soft power”, or how it can leverage its perception and influence on the continent.