In the past, China's strategic interests in Australia have been more about economics than politics. But Beijing has been quietly stitching up a series of media deals that are potentially far more influential.

Beijing is hoping an injection of Communist Party cash into Fairfax newspapers and Sky News will change how China is covered in the Australian press. The media deals, signed during a recent visit to Sydney by the the Communist Party's Central Propaganda official Liu Qibao, means China's colossal PR machine will have a say in what news we get from China.

Fairfax papers including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review have already begun running a monthly eight-page lift-out called China Watch, prepared by the Communist Party's official China Daily.