Has China’s sharp power offensive left the West’s democracies looking ‘like strategic amateurs’? An opinion piece by Chinese media outlet Caixin Global is touting the idea of “globalism with Chinese… Read more »
Global confidence in US leadership has fallen to a new low, according to a Gallup poll conducted across 134 countries, CNN reports: The US rating is down nearly 20 points from… Read more »
Australia’s Prime Minister today attacked Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for visiting a Chinese billionaire’s home to ask for donations, according to reports. Foreign interference in Australian politics has become a… Read more »
The Vatican and China are planning a first-ever exchange of artworks, as the two states forge ahead with soft diplomacy amid a stalemate in negotiations to heal decades of diplomatic… Read more »
The resumption of talks on the “quadrilateral” strategic initiative between the US, Australia, Japan and India is a shot across the bows of China. It has more than a whiff of… Read more »
Outspoken Labor MP Michael Danby has warned of China’s rise in “hard power”, praising the “push-back by Australia’s democratic system” against soft power initiatives, the Australian reports: Speaking to a… Read more »
North Korea’s regime has admitted its vulnerability to soft power “for the first time,” according to a prominent defector. An editorial in an official newspaper today conceded that information flows… Read more »
A high-ranking North Korean defector is recommending that U.S. lawmakers greatly increase the dissemination of information inside the isolated country, saying funding for such efforts pales in comparison to U.S. military… Read more »
Xi Jinping is quietly ramping up the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party in a push for global “soft power”, The FT’s James Kynge writes in a… Read more »
To enhance its economic and political clout, China has made substantial inroads across Southeast Asia on the back of multi-billion-dollar infrastructure and investment deals, notes analyst Philip Heijmans. This… Read more »