A film made by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) claims that the US is planning to overthrow the country's ruling communist party through political infiltration and the export of culture, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The 90-minute film, entitled Competition Without Sound, was made as an internal propaganda piece for China's 2m-strong military, and apparently claims that the US now views China in the same way as it did Soviet Russia during the cold war. The film was leaked online, and the influential Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao summarised its contents.

As well as attempting to influence China through its films, the film claims America is recruiting spies inside China, and that high profile dissidents such as Mao Yushi and He Weifang were agents of the west.

This revelation comes as Hollywood is slowly managing to release more of its product in the lucrative box office territory that China represents, with 3D spacewalk thriller Gravity the next to gain permission. At the same time, Chinese film-makers are becoming increasingly restless with the restrictions imposed on them by the official censorship agencies, with Back to 1942 director Feng Xiaogang the most vocal protester.

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