The posters are a ubiquitous sight on almost every street and feature images of the Great Wall, Chinese lanterns, traditional arts and the Tiananmen Gate, complete with red flags and portrait of Mao Zedong.
But in an unusual move for an advertising campaign, the only text on the posters is the word "China" rendered in Latvian, Mandarin and English.
LSM was curious to know who was responsible for the campaign and whether it was part of the official preparations for the so-called '16+1' meeting.
The Latvian Foreign Ministry said it had nothing to do with the campaign and others involved in the organization of the conference gave no immediate response, but a call to the Clear Channel company which operates many of the poster sites confirmed that the client was the Chinese Embassy in Latvia.
The Foreign Ministry later told LSM the campaign was intended "To celebrate the 25th anniversary of China-Latvia relations and in light of 16+1 year of culture exchange, the Embassy put the banners to promote bilateral cultural exchange."
The 16+1 format is an initiative by China "aimed at intensifying and expanding cooperation with 11 EU Member States and 5 Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia) in the fields of investments, transport, finance, science, education, and culture," according to the official website.
