Cultural exchanges between Chinese and African artists have borne creative fruit. For two years, Chinese and African artists have been visiting each other's countries as part of a program initiated by the Ministry of Culture. Li Qiang, a Nanjing-based landscape artist, says South Africa inspired him so much he was in a "creative trance".

China's Cultural Minister Cai Wu has urged the government to manage the cultural realm with adequate space and freedom given to the commercial market. "Traditional culture is essential in our cultural exchange with the overseas, but modern and pop arts should also be high on the agenda in cultural export efforts in order to strengthen foreign people's understanding of the current China," Cai said.

A. Iain Johnston has the lead article in the latest issue of International Security. It's available for free right now, and it's quite the doozy. Entitled "How New and Assertive is China's New Assertiveness?", Johnston picks apart the claim made by many (including your humble blogger) that China's post-2008 foreign policy represented anything all that much out of the ordinary.

The move to set up representative offices, despite decades of severed diplomacy and strong mutual distrust before 2008, will make life easier for the millions of tourists and investors who hop across the 99-mile wide Taiwan Strait from China to Taiwan. De facto consulates also would be the highest-level official presence by one side on the other.

Patrick Ho says Americans' distrust of China can be melted by reassuring skeptics that China is a nation of "peace-loving people". "We want to do away with what is called China bashing," said Ho, deputy chairman and secretary-general of the China Energy Fund Committee. "Having a big GDP doesn't mean we carry a big stick. A big GDP means we're prosperous."

Plans were announced Monday morning in Ottawa for a two-and-a-half-week tour the National Arts Centre Orchestra will make to China next fall. From Oct. 4 to 20, the 70– member orchestra will perform in seven cities (including Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai), give eight major concerts, interact with hundreds of Chinese musical students in 80 educational events, and generally spread the excellence of Canadian music-making to one of the fastest-growing audiences for classical music in the world.

Japan called on China to do more to restrain North Korea and its nuclear program during a visit to Tokyo by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday, a day after the American diplomat and Beijing leaders pledged to work together to restart talks with Pyongyang. Mr. Kerry shuttled between North Asian capitals over the weekend in a bid to avert a broader crisis in the region fueled by Pyongyang's threats to attack U.S. and allied targets in the Pacific.

Over a long day of diplomacy in Beijing, Mr Kerry warned Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping that the stakes were high as China's erratic ally North Korea threatens a missile launch that would extend a weeks-long crisis. The region has been engulfed by threats of nuclear war by Pyongyang in response to UN sanctions imposed over its recent rocket and nuclear tests, and Mr Kerry stressed that China has a unique sway over North Korea.