China media less aggressive in foreign coverage

Howard French's article in the New York Times provides a concise view of the current state of Chinese media. I think an excellent example of French's article playing out recently occurred when Steven Spielburg pulled his support for the Beijing Olympics due to China's overt support of the Sudanese government. Chinese media, in particular Xinhua, cast the move as largely irrelevant and continued driving one point home: China is not responsible for what the Sudanese government does.

China's take is an interesting one, considering their criticisms of the United States at times for being too meddlesome. It is interesting that the US often takes preemptive approaches to solving problems while China's modus operandi seems to be to sit back and watch...unless they can benefit from getting involved.