Today, art is one of many weapons utilised by governments – including our own – in the battle for political influence. In its Public Diplomacy Strategy 2014-16, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) notes that culture and the arts are one of many ‘public diplomacy initiatives’ employed to strengthen Australia's influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

On August 9, the Amity Foundation participated in the China-Africa Public Diplomacy Forum in Dar es Salaam with over 100 representatives to discuss further cooperation and exchange. Among them were officials, businesspeople, academics, media professionals and NGO workers.

Leaders of the two countries have maintained close exchange of visits and communications, the dialogue mechanism between the two governments has been ever increasing and perfecting, the complementariness of the two economies has been further tapped and a win-win cooperation pattern is taking shape, Wang noted. What's more, the two peoples have enhanced understanding and friendship through more and more trade and cultural exchanges and communications, he added.

New ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has outlined plans to renew an international expansion into overseas markets like China as part of a “soft power push” to influence Australia’s standing on the world stage. Two years after the controversial Australia Network was shut down because the government did not believe the ABC was meeting its contractual obligations, Ms Guthrie has foreshadowed a new offensive. 

TV just like at home – for millions of Chinese viewers in Europe. The new bobbles.tv pay TV platform is going on air today. The service for international communities in Europe is launching with 18 popular Chinese channels. bobbles.tv can be received throughout Europe via satellite and internet. An Indonesian TV package featuring seven channels is launching at the same time as the Chinese service. 

GIX, a graduate institute jointly run by the University of Washington and prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, will start receiving applications this fall for the first class of students for a dual master’s degree program to begin on its campus in 2017. The first on-the-ground project of a Chinese university in the United States, the program aspires to educate “the next generation of innovators” through “project-based learning.” 

The first China-Africa Public Diplomacy Forum opened on Tuesday in the capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam. [...] the event discussed building a comprehensive partnership as cooperation between China and Africa are cementing in various fields. Much room exists for China and Africa to explore public diplomacy, especially media service cooperation.

China’s growing control of the movie industry also exists downstream. AMC Theaters is owned by the Dalian Wanda group, whose board members have ties to the communist government. AMC is currently finalizing a merger with Carmike Cinemas that will make it the biggest movie chain in the United States with more than 8,000 theater screens.