Eighteen months after Julia Gillard announced the inaugural BHP Billiton Chair of Australian Studies at Peking University, an appointment may be imminent, according to Kevin Hobgood-Brown, managing director of the Foundation for Australian Studies in China which makes the appointment.

Visiting the land down under just became easier for a number of American travelers. On November 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service announced a trial program extending Australia’s SmartGate program to U.S. Global Entry members.

David Ensor is the director of Voice of America (VOA), a federal broadcasting institution that delivers news and programming to an international audience. Ensor previously served as director of communications and public diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, and had a 32-year journalism career that included reporting for National Public Radio, CNN and ABC News.

Blogs are gradually emerging as mainstream media in India. I previously mentioned in my own blog that the presence of a free press and recent proliferation of media outlets in India has relegated bloggers to the background, unlike in societies where there are limits to freedom of expression. This is true especially in the space of ‘issues’ where the ability of bloggers to influence public discourse in India seems to be limited by being ‘somewhat unnecessary’.

As Arts and Regional Development Minister -- and first cab off the ministerial rank in India to spruik the government's new Asia white paper -- Crean is pursuing a softer diplomacy. His latest visit, as patron minister for Australia's four-month-long Oz Fest cultural festival in India, reads like a royal tour: museums, galleries, world heritage sites, private jets, civic awards for cricketers.

In February this year, under pressure from the Hollywood studios and the World Trade Organisation, China increased the number of foreign films shown by 14 films, to about 34, including 3D and Imax movies. The initiative came from Xi Jinping, who is expected to be named leader at the congress. “The dominance of domestic films in the Chinese film market has been shaken. This has brought handsome profits to the American film industry,” said Mr Tian.

China launched its first cultural industry index on Friday to provide an indicator of how the sector is performing. Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd. jointly issued the OCT Culture Index named after OCT group, a Shenzhen-based state-owned enterprise administered by the central government.

The 2012 Poland-China Tibetan Culture Week successfully concluded here on Sunday, after arousing strong repercussions in Poland. The culture week, the first of its kind held in Poland, included an exhibition of more than 200 photos taken by Chinese and foreign photographers and 46 traditional Tibetan Thangka paintings, Tibetan folk songs and dance performances, in addition to a series of discussions and seminars between locals and Tibetologists.