Soft Power and Screen Power
Rethinking Australia’s Cultural Engagement with China
Australia’s engagement with China has become narrowly defined by trade balances, security debates, and diplomatic caution.
What is missing from that equation is culture — the human dimension of understanding that shapes how nations actually see each other.
Film and media are not peripheral to that task; they are its most enduring instruments.
If Australia is serious about sustaining a stable relationship with China, we need to treat storytelling as strategy, not afterthought.
If trade builds interdependence, stories build understanding.
Why it’s needed
The Australia–China relationship has entered a phase where political rhetoric alone cannot build understanding or trust.
The missing layer is cultural familiarity — the empathy that comes from seeing each other’s lived experience on screen.
Film and media are powerful because they:
Humanise nations beyond policy or ideology;
Translate complex identities into emotional understanding; and
Create enduring impressions that diplomacy and trade cannot.
If Australia wishes to be seen in China as more than a supplier of commodities or a political counterweight, it must project its identity through stories that reveal what an open, diverse, creative society looks like from within.
Policy manages relationships; stories shape perceptions.
What Australia Is Missing
Australia has not yet built the architecture to use storytelling strategically.
We have talent, activity, and goodwill — but little coherence.
National narrative strategy:
There is no shared vision of what we want international audiences to understand or feel about Australia.
Continuity:
Cultural engagement occurs as one-off events, festival invitations, or short-term initiatives — rarely as a sustained pipeline of storytelling.
Coordination:
Screen agencies, trade bodies, and foreign-policy institutions operate in silos, with disconnected goals and metrics.
Presence:
Few Australian stories reach Chinese audiences at scale; our image remains mediated through others.
Australia is active, but not intentional.
We fund culture as art, not as infrastructure of influence.
Why China Specifically
China is the world’s second-largest and fastest-growing screen market — and one of the least exposed to authentic Australian voices.
Engaging with China through storytelling offers both strategic and cultural value:
It makes Australia legible to Chinese audiences through human stories rather than headlines.
It builds shared creative infrastructure that can endure beyond diplomatic cycles.
It opens channels of exchange that are cultural, not ideological.
This is not about persuasion or propaganda.
It is about participation — ensuring that Australian perspectives exist within the world’s most influential narrative ecosystem.
How to Approach It
Australia needs a two-track model for cultural engagement through film and media.
1. The Soft-Power Track
A state-supported program focused on storytelling as public diplomacy.
Its purpose is to project Australia’s identity, creativity, and values.
Trade as cultural investment, not commercial subsidy.
Success should be measured by audience reach, visibility, and shifts in perception — not by box-office return.
2. The Commercial Track
A market-driven approach that sustains the screen industry through co-production and distribution partnerships.
It would rely on shared financing, audience insight, and long-term professional exchange.
Its metrics are commercial — profitability, co-financing, and market access.
These two tracks can complement each other, but they must remain distinct.
Soft power builds familiarity; commercial engagement builds scale.
Confusing the two weakens both.
Soft power opens the door; commercial power keeps it open.
Conclusion
Australia’s relationship with China cannot rest solely on trade, diplomacy, or defence dialogue.
It also requires narrative capital — the ability to be seen, understood, and remembered.
Film and media are how nations build that capital. They are not decoration for a national brand; they are the brand itself.
Soft power begins with screen power.
If Australia wants to shape its reputation in the region, it must start by telling its own stories — and ensuring they travel.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Because with the US and UK, we already share cultural language, market access, and values — our stories travel organically.
China is different: linguistic, regulatory, and ideological barriers mean Australian narratives don’t reach Chinese audiences naturally.
That makes film not a luxury, but a necessary channel of understanding.
This isn’t about politicising the film sector — it’s about recognising that culture does strategic work where diplomacy alone cannot.
“We don’t need to explain ourselves to those who already understand us.
We need to reach the audiences who don’t.”
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Yes — but activity is not strategy. Existing programs are isolated and short-term, lacking continuity or shared objectives. Coordination would turn sporadic events into sustained presence.
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No. Coherence is not control. Strategic coherence does not require editorial direction.
A framework can clarify purpose and investment logic while leaving creative content entirely independent. Alignment of goals does not mean state-authored messaging; it means ensuring that cultural investment serves recognisable public value.
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Australia’s visibility is strong in English-speaking markets but minimal in China and most of Asia, where language, access, and distribution barriers limit reach.
Organic success does not equal strategic presence.
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This is not either/or. India and ASEAN support diversification; China defines the regional narrative environment. Soft-power engagement is most critical where political relations are delicate, not where they are easy. Strategic balance requires depth with China and breadth elsewhere.
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The environment is complex, but withdrawal achieves nothing. Other nations — including the UK, France, and South Korea — maintain productive screen partnerships with China by building trust and reciprocity.
Engagement allows us to participate with integrity; disengagement leaves the narrative to others.
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Because influence is a national asset. Soft power investments return value in credibility, access, and reputation — the groundwork for trade, diplomacy, and commercial opportunity.
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They can complement each other, but the investment logic must remain distinct.
A film can serve both purposes, but not under the same funding or success metrics. Separation ensures that each track — influence and profit — succeeds on its own terms.
Legend Media Group is a Perth-based film and television production company specialising in international co-productions.
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