Beijing is manipulating Western movie and film production, especially in Hollywood, to project a positive image of itself to the world, according to a September report by a French military think tank. The 650-page report aims at exposing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s all-encompassing global influence tactics. On the cultural front, the report pointed out that the CCP has been exerting control over Hollywood studios through blacklisting, limiting access to the Chinese market, and content censorship. While the CCP has been using films as vectors for propaganda since it took hold on China in 1949, the United States did not feel its influence until 1997, the report said. That year, three films were released that punctured the Chinese regime’s positive self-image: Kundun, Seven Years in Tibet, and Red Corner. While the first two focused on Tibet, a highly sensitive topic to the CCP due to its ongoing suppression of the local culture and …