Just over two months ago, the Tamils went to the polls for Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council elections with defiance, yet with a cautious sense of festivity. Military harassment of voters and party candidates had been thorough and brutally innovative throughout the campaigning; in addition to the typical battering of election monitors, cash-for-votes and widespread intimidation, government supporters had even printed a fake newspaper.

CRI, one of Beijing’s four main state-run media outlets along with the Xinhua news agency, China Central Television (CCTV) and the English-language China Daily newspaper, is now at the centre of an $8 billion expansion, part of China’s plans to boost its “soft power” overseas.

Because, Sri Lanka’s overseas public diplomacy or its public affairs program has not identified in advance the most influential media outlets in Western capitals, especially the epicenter of Western diplomacy Washington, to reach them and make them knowledgeable of the country’s current atmosphere and situation.

The debate over immigration policy has already taken a hard right turn in Australia after boatloads of Sri Lankan Tamils washed up on its shores.