Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported back in June that a planned Yang-Yachi meeting in mid-July would focus on two topics: Abe’s planned statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and a possible summit between the Chinese and Japanese leaders. Abe and Xi have meet several times since both assumed office, but always on the sidelines of larger multilateral groupings. A purely bilateral meeting between Asia’s two largest economies would be a major step forward.

Touring Swan Lake in China is not the kind of cultural diplomacy that will help Australia gain a foothold in Asia.[...] The arts sector must engage with Asia and other parts of the world on cultural terms.  

The U.S.-China relationship is simply too consequential to be allowed to falter and fail. The cost of mishandling it would be enormous, if not disastrous, for all. Holding the relationship together requires political and policy imagination, as well as active, sustained engagement through public diplomacy.

The steadily downward trend in Sino-American relations was to be at least partially halted as a result of geopolitical and political developments, two in particular. The first was the fact that the 1960s had seen a major falling out between the Soviet Union and China. [...] The second development was the accession to office in Washington of Richard Nixon and of his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger.

China has been making major efforts to increase its ability to influence other countries without force or coercion. [...] China has emphasized its cultural and economic strengths, but it has paid less attention to the political aspects that can undermine its efforts.

In June, the Chinese Ministry of Culture blacklisted 38 Japanese anime and manga from distribution in China. [...] However, in the hearts and minds of Chinese fans of Japanese anime, the Great Firewall of China is acting a little too late.