A week-long exhibition on China Intangible Culture kicked off here [Kathmandu] on Thursday, offering Nepalese an opportunity to gain an insight into the rich and abundant Chinese history and culture.

China's soft power as the world's biggest property buyer is under severe strain due to a government crackdown on capital flight and the Qatar controversy, which is expected to drive a lot of Arab money into the property market in western countries.

The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a mere start-up among development lenders – but already has a global footprint. [...] As tension between the Trump administration and China has ebbed and flowed over regional trade and security, the AIIB has eased, for now, initial fears that it was set up to extend hegemony over its neighbours. The bank has presented itself as a key part of the multilateral global system that Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to defend.

Panama’s Chinese community is celebrating Monday’s announcement of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. [...] In Panama City this week, members of the Fa Yen community – the largest of its kind in Panama, representing Panamanian descendants from the Chinese province of Guangdong, gathered for a type of celebration usually reserved for big holidays, like the Chinese New Year. But this is June. People like lawyer Luisa Lam Siu said they were very happy that the government announced it had severed diplomatic ties with Taipei in exchange for Beijing.

Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela announced late on June 12 his intention to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan in exchange for recognition from China. [...] Taiwan’s formal diplomatic relations are particularly susceptible to Chinese offers of aid and investment. For decades both Beijing and Taipei were accused by the other of engaging in “dollar diplomacy” or “checkbook diplomacy,” where various forms of international aid appear tied to switching diplomatic recognition.

On June 9, at Rike Park, diplomats celebrated the 25th anniversary of Georgian-Chinese bilateral relations. It was organized by international media holding GBTIMES Georgia and the Chinese Embassy in Georgia, and supported by Tbilisi City Hall. All day long visitors at Rike Park had the opportunity to see and purchase Chines goods, as well as attend master-classes of traditional martial arts, sample Chinese dishes, see Chinese costumes, as well as shows, exhibitions and concerts.

Chinese Minister of Culture Luo Shugang says Zambia-China cultural cooperation stands out as a role model for China-African cooperation. The Chinese minister has also praised the visit of the Zambian tourism Minister Charles Banda, saying that the visit would elevate existing cultural relations between the two countries to a higher level. The Chinese Minister also agreed to the need for the two parties to expedite the process of finalizing the Cultural Agreement and called for more substance to be added to the framework so as to widen the scope of cooperation.

Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi were apparently talking movies, among other things, at a summit in Kazakhstan on Friday. Xi mentioned that he, like millions of Chinese, had enjoyed the hit Bollywood film Dangal. Xi and Modi went on to discuss boosting cultural cooperation between the two countries. [...] Dangal is still screening across China at more than 7,000 cinemas.Its success follows a string of other Bollywood films that have won over Chinese audiences in recent years, including the previous biggest hit, PK, which took in 118 million yuan.