Description
In this paper we examine how China’s strategic narratives are represented in major British and American newspapers. We create and analyse a new dataset to demonstrate that there is significant resistance in US and UK media outlets to China’s attempts to improve its image abroad. We find that increasing economic links with China are associated with security risks in news media discourse. Assessments of Chinese policy strategies are most negatively examined through security lenses; even when economic opportunities are identified we find that Chinese actors are still viewed as untrustworthy partners. Major strategic projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative rather than being seen as an opportunity for increased cooperation between Western states and China are represented as a possible threat to the established international order, in the form of new transnational networks that increase Western vulnerability to Chinese coercion or “debt trap” diplomacy that contravenes international development norms.
