What character does the U.S. have in the fantastical lands of Bollywood? A handful of recent films have truly absorbed America into their land of dreams. They’ve ditched most of the stereotypes about corrupt, debauched Westerners seen in films from past eras...but they also creatively use American settings for stories that deal with the unique risks and freedoms of the 21st-century world.

Just as in relationships between people, states generally treat different categories of other states differently: With friends they appeal to loyalty and shared values; with allies they appeal mainly to shared interests; with clients or subordinates, they also appeal mainly to shared interests, but with a twist given the power equation.

The Central Committee has declared that focusing on China's cultural development is part of its plan to increase the country's "soft power" and defend its "cultural security." While the government continues to fund projects to promote Chinese culture abroad like the Confcius Institutes, behind these tired slogans are policy guidelines sure to doom any possibility of a Chinese cultural renaissance.

China is considering to set up a special fund to finance arts creation and cultural performances in the latest move to buoy the development of the country's "soft power," a cultural official said. China's top leadership has recently attached greater importance to improving the country's cultural soft power after decades of economic growth.

Xinhua remains a mouthpiece for the Communist Party. Its news stories and commentaries rarely stray from the party line...It doesn’t bode well for China’s efforts abroad that the country remains among the harshest censors of news and most aggressive in harassing journalists, both domestic and foreign.

Each time China is castigated by the international human rights community, or criticized by the Western media, the country’s leaders feel that global public opinion is stacked against them. Western culture and values have gone global in a way that Chinese culture and values have not, and Beijing wants to do something about this.

Last week, People’s Daily ran a commentary that called for the state to build up publishing houses into companies with international brands so their books can help spread “socialist core values.” And some officials ache for a mainland Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

According to the analysts and diplomats at the table, China's influence is based on cooperation, development and mutual interests. China's 'soft power' (a term that is not popular in Beijing) is its ability to let countries develop at their own rate.