Comrades or contenders: A corpus-based study of China's Belt and Road in US diplomatic discourse

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has received both praise and criticism within global settings. American stance, however, has been interesting sounding diplomatically more intricate. BRI’s opponents view it being hampered by impediments rather than facilitated with opportunities, while its advocates see opportunities instead of challenges because of its being in global limelight. While all parties have valid justifications for their express or tacit positions, they emphasize on the legitimacy of the status quo. To investigate these significant researchable inquiries, the study exclusively aims at examining the inherent ideologies and inconsistencies witnessed in the presentation and re-presentation of China's Belt and Road Initiative in US public diplomacy media outlets. Our findings reveal that China's image has been constructed differently at US diplomacy public media outlets hence establishing it as a major dimension worth inquiry. The study also shows that media attention and direct responses to the BRI in the United States view it through a lens of politically engineered problems. However, the diplomatic logic of the United States differs from the entire philosophy behind the BRI project as the BRI image has observed a drastic change from positive in re-presentation to being neutral rather somewhat negatively perceived.