The previous chapter presented the findings of the frames by the Chinese and Australian public diplomacy elites and their views on the role of media in soft power strategy. These findings hopefully provide a parameter for understanding the way the Australian target audiences react to the media frames. To investigate the role CCTV NEWS plays in China's soft power strategy, this book uses China's BRI to examine how it is framed by communicators (the Chinese government), the media (CCTV NEWS) and the target audiences in Australia on these three contexts in the information flow.

BRI is known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, China's newest development initiative and framework, which aims, in the official lexicon, to boost connectivity and cooperation among China and Eurasian countries. It was first proposed by China's president Xi Jinping in 2013. In March 2015, the guiding document Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st- Century Maritime Silk Road (Vision and Action) was coissued by China's National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China with the authorisation of the State Council. Corresponding to the plan, two financial institutions, the AIIB and Silk Road Fund, were founded to support infrastructure constructions and businesses along the areas. In 2017, the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRFIC) held in Beijing drew 29 foreign heads of state and government and representatives from more than 130 countries and 70 international organisations. The Second BRFIC was held on 25– 27 April 2019.

The proposal of BRI with a broad coverage of more than 60 countries in the corresponding areas has drawn great attention and debates on the initiative itself and its impact on responding areas among policy makers and academia around the globe (Wang 2015). The Chinese government has attached exceptional importance to the initiative since the notable pledge of $40 billion to the Silk Road Fund in late 2014 and the setting up in the same year of the Leading Group on the Construction of the Belt and Road1 in 2015; a team consisting of top leaders serving under a vice premier, to oversee the implementation of the initiative; and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.