Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has pledged to uphold press freedom, saying it is the government’s “constitutional responsibility” and an indispensable element that makes Hong Kong an international city. Leung was delivering a speech on Monday at the presentation ceremony of the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong’s annual news awards.

The two lead actors of popular Korean drama Descendants of the Sun were in Hong Kong on Tuesday for the series’ first overseas promotional activity. The drama will premiere in the city the next day on local channel Viu TV. The show is already available on Viu’s free K-drama streaming site Viu.com, where it is the most-watched show.

Taiwan is in the middle of an enormous national effort to promote its soft power, aiming both to improve and enrich society and at the same time stimulate growth in an era when it has lost many of the industries that drove the economy during the past 50 years as one of Asia’s original tigers.

Local films are going abroad in a cultural diplomacy project by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Sent to Singapore's diplomatic missions that express an interest, the traveling package comprises 10 feature-length and 10 short films. [...] The ministries partnered the National Museum of Singapore's Cinematheque department to curate the list, with each chosen film representing a significant development in Singapore's film landscape.

Entitled "Preparing Athletes for 2016 Rio Olympics", the Forum aims to offer a valuable opportunity for local and overseas experts to exchange views on trainingstrategies and application of science and technology in providing support to athletes.

BASED IN Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has a distinguished 112-year history as an independent news source, in English, about China […] Chinese Internet mogul Jack Ma’s company, Alibaba, has just announced plans to buy the paper [...] It may well be that the South China Morning Post is about to be molded into a pseudo-private instrument of the Chinese state’s “soft power,” […]

The event recognizes the growing interest in Asian arts internationally and the current threats presented by regional conflicts, natural disasters, and changing populations. Issues addressed at the Summit include the challenges in the work of cultural heritage preservation, the responsibilities of institutions and individuals as stewards of culture, and the technologies and methods used to keep traditions intact and relevant into and beyond the twenty-first century.