For China, the film industry’s lure is evident. China hopes to tap into Hollywood’s expertise as it builds up its own nascent entertainment industry. It also understands popular culture’s potential as a PR platform for the Chinese Communist Party on the global stage.

An outdoor exhibition of installation art, featuring art in containers, will start its world tour in July in Shandong province's Qingdao. It'll then travel to other cities in China and later head for France.

Film and television works have an important role in transcending emotions and connecting different cultures, officials said at a symposium today. High-level translation is crucial to draw people from different countries closer and support the cultural development, Ding Wei, Vice Minister of Culture of China, said at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Sino-Foreign Audiovisual Translation and Dubbing (SFATD) Cooperation Workshop & Symposium.

In recent weeks, business deals between Australian and Chinese media groups have raised concerns over potential Chinese government influence in the Australian press. But according to a report in the Australian Financial Review, the media is not the only institution that has recently received Chinese government money as part of a soft power push by Beijing.

A US-led push for India to join a club of countries controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology made some headway on Thursday as several opponents appeared more willing to work towards a compromise, but China remained defiant.

Traditional allies driven to act as their rivals step up efforts to win over their friends. "If China feels that US effort to contain China is getting severe and intense, China will make the strategic move to invite Kim Jong Un to Beijing as an international warning to the US," he added.

The focus this year has been selected with the theme of "ASEAN-China education exchange year", Derry added. As such, he said, there will be more efforts to increase cooperation in the education sector, people-to-people exchanges and promoting awareness between the two peoples.