A political economy framing analysis of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Southeastern Asia press – A comparative study on the Republic of Philippines, Malaysia and the Republic of Singapore

• Main Authors: Kwan, Shin-Han, 關信恆
• Other Authors: Chen, Yi-Ning
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/bnepsh

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 傳播學院傳播碩士學位學程 === 107 === The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), first proposed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2013, is a cross-national investment plan claiming to work towards win-win scenario by raising infrastructure standard and seeking political and economic cooperation with neighboring countries. The author chooses the Republic of Philippines, Malaysia and the Republic of Singapore, which are all on the Maritime Silk Road and have China as their top trading partner, to see how their media respond to the project when economic development is sought while having different levels of sovereignty issue with China in the South China Sea. Nine hundred and forty-nine articles are collected from 7 media of the three countries after systematic sampling to find the quality, topic, tendency, news origin, news source and frames of BRI media content. The research finds that economic incentive remains the most used frame for all three countries. However, in Malaysia, standpoint and ownership of media have a huge influence on the reporting of BRI. Whether BRI can benefit locals becomes the center of debate for politicians. In the Philippines, BRI is regarded as a great opportunity to develop its country, however, China’s activities in SCS is seen as a political threat that harms national interests. This leads to higher economic concern, political threat and political stability frame. The Straits Times, owned by Singapore government, has the most BRI articles and more often uses non-prominent frame to show the multiple aspects of BRI. It not only keeps track of how other countries respond to BRI but also serves as a platform for officials and scholars to find niche and identify problems of BRI.