THE BLUE CONTINENT IN THE EYES OF THE DRAGON: CHINESE NEWS MEDIA AND ACADEMIC REPRESENTATIONS OF PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES

Abstract

China has ramped up its engagement with Pacific Island countries and established itself as a major cooperative partner and assistance provider in the region. However, the Pacific Islands remain a blind spot for many Chinese people, and their perceptions of island countries are inevitably shaped by prevalent and dominant discourses at home, which further influences subsequent actions in the Pacific. While Pacific Island countries are aware of China’s growing presence, accompanied by opportunities and uncertainties, they are largely uninformed about the image of Pacific nations that circulates in China. This thesis seeks to fill this real-world and research gap by exploring Chinese news media and academic representations of Pacific Island countries, drawing on frameworks of Critical Discourse Analysis. After reviewing Western and historical Chinese representations, this thesis provides an overview of Chinese news and research articles about Pacific Island countries between 2015 and 2019 and then focuses on publications in 2019. A sample of 212 news articles and 43 research articles are then examined to extract, categorize, and dissect relevant discourses. This thesis argues that Chinese central news media paint a broad and superficial portrait of island countries because of the great caution exercised in political news and the intention of promoting China’s image and contributions. By comparison, Chinese academia presents a more multifaceted and complex profile of island countries, investigating their characteristics across various scholarly spheres. Pivoting around the ideas of development and progress, Chinese representations, whether from the perspectives of China, geopolitics, or the Pacific, mainly manifest as the projection of Chinese values and interests onto foreign and insular places.