21st Century Wars: Fought Over Islands or Script Approval?

A Sept. 30, 2016, NY Times article about a Chinese investor and Hollywood didn't use the word "war".

Instead it referred to "geopolitical conflict".

But a new type of "war" is exactly what has some US politicians concerned.

While the US military can muster (and has recently deployed) planes and ships to counter China's expansion in the South China Sea, what tools are available for the US to respond to China's growing soft power (financial stakes that translate into controlling interests) in global media companies?

“Should the definition of national security be broadened to address concerns about propaganda and control of the media and ‘soft power’ institutions?”

Will the the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, an interagency group that is supervised by the Treasury Department, move to restrict the flow of yuan into Hollywood?

Or will the Wang Jianlin's Dalian Wanda Group (and others) continue acquiring stakes in media companies.

Ultimately, which victory is more important?  

Who controls the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands... or who decides what gets made for billions of global screens?