Beijing sees the Confucius Institutes as a way to promote its own soft power overseas, similar to the British Council or Germany’s Goethe-Institut.  Yet recently, criticism has come hard and fast. 

In truth, the fears about CIA infiltration and those about Japanese cartoon characters are part of the same anxiety: a feeling that China's lack of soft power presents a weak underbelly to the outside world.

Beijing received more than 540,000 tourists in 26 major scenic areas on Wednesday, also the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, up 33 percent year on year, local authorities announced on Thursday.

What does the Australia Network’s closure and the launch of Sky News’ Australia Channel mean for Australian soft power?  Since their inception, Australia’s international media organisations have trodden a fine line between promoting Australia’s interests in the Asia Pacific region and upholding the values of the Fourth Estate which sees critical reporting of government as central to its role.

China’s effort to project soft-power has suffered another serious setback after a second US university in a week announced it would close its on-campus Confucius Institute because of an apparent disagreement over Chinese government controls.