Chinese influence in Australia is growing across a broad front, from political donations to Confucius Institute teachings in primary schools and university institutes funded from Beijing. These continuing efforts to spread soft power have found a new friend, with an announcement that content from Chinese newspapers and wires will run in Australian media and on the Sky TV cable television channel.

A photo exhibition opened on Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland, showcasing pictures of that country and China to help boost cultural exchanges between the two ahead of President Xi Jinping's first state visit to this country. The "Beautiful China, Beautiful Poland" exhibition, organized by China's State Council Information Office and Chinese embassy to Poland, features more than 40 photos from both countries.

During the Ming dynasty, [...] More than six centuries later, Xi Jinping, China’s president, launched a new maritime strategy explicitly drawing on Zheng’s legacy: the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road is one part of a larger project, the One Belt, One Road (OBOR), which aims to connect China with Europe by land and sea. 

A pair of Chinese giant pandas that arrived here last month as part of a joint research project were officially unveiled to the public on April 21 at the country’s largest amusement park south of Seoul. After some 50 days of allowing the animals to get used to their new environment, Samsung Everland in Yongin, about 50 kilometers south of Seoul, held an opening ceremony for “Panda World” and showed the pandas to the public.

Last October, President Xi visited the National Football Museum during his state visit to the UK. Moore recounted the cultural exchange: “I gave to the President as a gift from the National Football Museum a copy of the hand- written laws from 1863, and he gave me a gift of a replica Cuju ball.”

Xi Jinping’s three-day stopover in Prague on his way to Washington [...] Xi’s visit to the Czech Republic deserves some attention as it indicates Beijing’s approach towards the EU in general. It also offers insight into the limits of Beijing’s soft power, relying mostly on economic incentives and undermined by its own sense of insecurity.

South Korea and China have agreed to carry out 69 cultural projects this year to build stronger ties between their people, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday. [...] The projects include various academic seminars, youth exchange programs, speech contests and concerts, as well as a joint study of pandas.

At the invitation of President Milos Zeman, I will be paying my first state visit to the Czech Republic as the Chinese President. I look forward to having in-depth exchange of views with President Zeman and other Czech leaders on boosting bilateral ties and on major international and regional issues.