China’s military will take part in an infantry exercise for the first time with Australian and US forces in October, the Pentagon said on Thursday.  The joint exercise will take place in northern Australia and marks another step forward in efforts by Washington and Canberra to bolster relations with China’s People’s Liberation Army, officials said.

China's foreign ministry has condemned the behaviour of some Chinese citizens in Africa following its ambassador to Tanzania giving an uncommonly frank newspaper interview in which he decried the "bad habits" of his compatriots. In the interview, Lu Xinsheng said Chinese businessmen smuggle ivory and rhino horns out of the country and flood local markets with counterfeit goods while contractors constantly try to undercut each other, resulting in shoddy infrastructure projects. 

There is no question that China is the linchpin in BRICS. Now the founding of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) suggest that BRICS can be looked to for bold moves in the future, with China leading the charge. All sides agree that this is a mutual partnership with noble goals of reciprocal investment and development, but it’s hard to ignore China’s considerable muscle.

It is no secret that the world’s two largest economies–the U.S. and China–don’t always see eye to eye in terms of values, politics, economics, and leadership. However, despite on-and-off competition and cooperation between their governments, the lives of American and Chinese citizens are becoming increasingly intertwined. 

A Ugandan official on Thursday said that cultural exchanges and cooperation with China has deepened the people to people relations of the two countries.  Rose Namayanja, minister of information and national guidance told reporters here that over the years there have been increased cultural exchanges as Ugandan artists go to China and vice versa.

China’s main goals in South America are economic, but it also hopes to win public and political support.  Thus, an economic push by China is also a soft power push, as Beijing uses its funding (both public and private) to win goodwill in developing countries.

A new international development bank and multi-billion emergency lending pool will be setup by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The move comes at a summit meeting of BRICS leaders in Brazil.

Pew Global Research released the results of its “Balance of Power” survey, and it contains a lot of interesting data about what the world thinks about China. On the whole, impressions of China are positive.