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A Study on the Theoretical Framework of Discourse Analysis of China’s Response to Sino-US Trade Frictions:

A Study on the Theoretical Framework of Discourse Analysis of China’s Response to Sino-US Trade... This paper selects the reports on Sino-US trade friction published by People’s Daily from August 2, 2019, when the United States announced that it would impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the United States, until the end of September 2019. Based on Zang Guoren’s news framework theory, this paper used the method of content analysis and framework analysis to analyze the four aspects of news source, reporting theme, schema structure, and reporting tendency. This paper analyzes the characteristics of the news framework constructed by People’s Daily under the publication strategy of Sino-US trade friction news reports. People’s Daily constructs the basic framework of news report with the main body showing the evaluation of China’s tariff increase policy of the United States. The theme of this paper is to focus on the ways in which China’s mainstream media People’s Daily reports Sino-US trade frictions, and find out the fundamental differences between China and the United States in the process of analyzing relevant news reports. People’s Daily attaches great importance to the expression of Chinese speech position in terms of news report selection strategy, focusing on dialogue, cooperation, and discourse communication, supplemented by criticism and refutation, focusing on the future prospects of Sino-US economic and trade relations, and emphasizing “speech communication” more than “counter action.” The related reports on Sino-US trade frictions in People’s Daily retrieved in this paper reflect China’s strong confidence in its own economic development strength in the face of the trade crisis brought about by the arbitrary imposition of tariffs by the United States. It also emphasizes the principle of “reasonable, advantageous, and prudent” adopted by China’s counter-measures, highlighting China’s desire to actively engage in equal and effective dialogue with the U.S., and expressing the Chinese government’s willingness to actively resolve Sino-US trade frictions under the premise of “mutual benefit and win-win results.” Keywords Sino-US trade friction, People’s Daily, theoretical framework, news sources, media conflict, and analyzes the choice of news sources and their Research Purpose and Value attitude and position on shaping China’s mainstream media The economic and trade friction between China and the to relevant events. United States has a significant and far-reaching impact on Combined with the research on the news frame structure the development of the world economy, which has aroused of China’s mainstream media reporting trade friction between the wide attention of all countries in the world. The United China and the United States, from the aspects of news States is the largest developed country and the largest econ- sources, report theme, schema structure, and reporting ten- omy in the world, while China is the largest developing dency, this paper discusses the basic attitude and position of country and the second largest economy in the world. The the Chinese government toward Sino-US economic and attitude of both sides toward the situation of trade friction trade frictions as well as the principles and methods of determines the development trend. The risk management and dealing with the contradictions between the two sides, finds control strategies of trade friction between the two sides have become the focus of the world. Adopting the research method of the news media framework of Zang Guoren, a scholar of Jiangsu Open University, Nanjing, China Taiwan, starting from China’s relevant news reports on Corresponding Author: Sino-US trade friction, this paper searches and analyzes 43 Cao Linjing, School of Foreign Languages, Jiangsu Open University, No. news articles in People’s Daily of China from August 1 to 399 Jiangdong North Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210000, China. Email: 306012407@qq.com September 30, 2019 about the Sino-US trade friction and Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open out the specific measures to improve Sino-US trade rela- article studies the basic attitude of the Chinese government tions, and provides objective auxiliary analysis for improv- in the process of the continuous escalation of Sino-US trade ing Sino-US economic and trade relations, so as to better friction, so as to provide assistant decision-making basis for avoid the miscalculation and intensification of contradictions promoting the rational settlement of trade disputes between between the two sides. In order to realize the normalization China and the United States. of Sino-US economic and trade relations, safeguard the global free trade and multilateral system, promote the sus- The Theoretical Basis of the Research tainable development of the world economy in the direction of mutual benefit and win-win results, and accelerate the In order to study the analysis framework of Sino-US eco- pace of world economic recovery, the frictions, and conflicts nomic and trade frictions in People’s Daily, the news between China and the United States in the field of economy sources of relevant news reports and the framework of and trade should be resolved. The globalization of the world media reports will be studied. News media rely on frame to economy should get promoted and economic prosperity and establish the main axis and structure of the report, and the recovery be achieved. information scattered in the real society into meaningful news content will get combined and thoroughly researched. Meanwhile, news sources also need to rely on the frame- Background and Significance of the work to organize their internal views, and organize the Research information into events or statements that can be accepted by the news media. The following introduces the influence On July 31, 2019, after the 12th round of China and U.S. of news sources theory and news framework analysis theory senior-level economic and trade consultation was concluded on news reporting. in Shanghai, the two sides not only had frank, efficient, and constructive in-depth exchanges on major issues of common concern in the economic and trade field, but also discussed News Sources Analysis Method China’s increase in agricultural products procurement from the United States according to Chinese domestic needs and News sources mainly refer to the owner and provider of the U.S. side’s efforts to create favorable conditions for pro- news sources. Through direct contact with news sources, curement, and agreed to hold the next round of consultations media reporters can understand and grasp the truth of news. in the United States in September. However, less than 2 days The audience can judge whether the news facts reported by ago, in the early hours of August 2, 2019, U.S. President journalists are authoritative and credible according to the Trump tweeted that he would impose a 10% tariff on U.S. sources of news. Therefore, news source is one of the impor- $300 billion Chinese exports to the United States from tant bases for the audience to decide whether they believe September 1, 2019. China’s CCTV news broadcast refuted and accept news facts, and it is also the basis and source of the renegade behavior of U.S. for four consecutive days. The the credibility of news reports (Zang, 1999). The source of trade friction policy adopted by the United States has led to news is the reliable basis for the truth of news. The choice of the continuous escalation of Sino-US economic and trade news sources for relevant reports by media determines the frictions, greatly harming the interests of China, the United quality and efficiency of news communication to a great States, and other countries, and seriously threatening the extent, and also reflects the influence and leading ability of multilateral trade system and free trade principles. In news media on public opinion. response to the above-mentioned measures of the United News sources have a strong influence on the credibility of States, China is forced to take countermeasures. A large news media reports. As Gandy (1982) believes, news does number of news articles were published in People’s Daily not necessarily represent the truth, but news reports represent from August 1st to September 30th, 2019, which provided the truth determined by the corresponding news sources. In in-depth reports on the continuously escalating trade friction fact, in the process of reporting facts, the news media always between China and the United States. give priority to some authoritative news sources to reflect the In order to have in-depth analysis and research on the media’s own world outlook and values. In the process of publication strategy of the Sino-U.S. trade friction news selecting news sources, there will be bias, which cannot report and the characteristics of the construction of the news achieve absolute fairness and justice (Chen,1993), and may framework of People’s Daily from August 1st to September prefer to choose powerful news sources. To a certain extent, 30th 2019, this paper takes the Sino-US trade friction news news reporting is class biased. It usually becomes a tool for published in People’s Daily at the same time as the research the dominant party to maintain its dominant position. sample, according to Zang’s (1999) news framework theory, From the perspective of journalism, news sources have a using the method of combining content analysis and frame significant impact on the organizational framework and objec- analysis. From the following four aspects: news sources, tivity of news reports. In providing descriptions and views of report theme, schema structure, and reporting tendency, the events, the news sources themselves also have subjective Linjing 3 understanding of the value and world outlook of the informa- regarded as the “mainstream” method for mainland Chinese tion providers themselves (Weng, 1994). Therefore, media researchers to analyze news text frames. news reports are often affected by external social factors. In In Zang’s (1999) works, he gave a variety of different the media news reports, it is inevitable to choose the sources of definitions of the frame in different contexts. Among them, news and the obvious bias of news reports. the news frame refers to “the subjective interpretation and In news reporting, the news media have the initiative of thinking structure of news media or journalists on events, whether to publish or how to report. They can decide when, which is the core meaning of news reporting,” “the abstract where and by whom to interview, and how to present news meaning of the world of symbols, representing the high-level from the perspective of organizational structure. The signifi- structure of speech, and presenting similar and consistent cance of news report is determined by journalists’ grasping interpretation directions in different media content.” Zang the characteristics of readers’ interest and the news audi- Guoren also regarded “genre,” “formula,” “schema,” “para- ence’s recognition of news report (Weng, 1997). When jour- digm,” “myth,” “metaphor,” “discourse,” etc. as similar to nalists report news events, on the one hand, they are the concept of the framework, and the meanings they repre- influenced by social structure (such as communication pol- sent overlap with the framework to some extent. Based on icy, media organization, wiring structure, etc.), on the other the above viewpoints, Zang’s (1999) “three-level structure” hand, they internalize certain ideologies (such as objective is in a broad sense, and the definition of framework is based reporting, news value, news type, news sources, etc.) into on “the subjective interpretation and thinking structure of daily work rules through the process of specialization, and events by people or organizations,” which refers to various construct news subjectively through the above rules. It can truths (objective truths, symbolic reality, and subjective real- be seen that culture and ideology can influence the process of ity) having internal structures of high, medium, and low lev- news sources participating in the construction of media els, as shown in the following Figure 1. authenticity. Through the research and analysis of news Taiwan scholar Zang Guoren proposed a framework of sources in news reports, the relationship between news high-, medium-, and low-level theories. In fact, the theory of sources and symbolic authenticity will be explored, so as to “Three-Level Structure of News Media Framework” of Zang reveal the news media’s understanding and attitude of news Guoren draws lessons from Van Dijk’s five categories of sources, and the views and action trends of social parties news structure. However, it makes a further generalization toward news event will be speculated. Thus, through investi- and extends to social reality and subjective reality. “High- gation and research, the methods and strategies to deal with level structure” refers to all kinds of real macro-structure news events have been decided to better promote the devel- meanings, which are often used to define the theme of an opment and progress of society. event, that is, “what is it that’s going on here.” In the media reality, it is what Van Dijk called “thematic structure,” which discusses the core meaning and theme of news (Ball, 1996). Approaches to News Frame Analysis “Middle- level structure” is derived from Van Dijk’s concept The concept of frame originated from Bateson (1955), which of “new model” (Chen, 1994), which is condensed into seven was introduced into cultural sociology by Goffman (1981) items: major events, previous events, history, results, influ- in his book Frame Analysis, and then into mass communica- ence, attribution, and evaluation (Malan, 2007). Previous tion research, which has become an important point in quali- events, history, results, and impacts are time variables before tative research (Zhang, 2005). According to Goffman, and after the occurrence of major events, while attribution framework is an important evidence for people to transform and evaluation belong to the causes and judgments of major social reality into subjective thoughts, that is, the subjective events. “Low-level structure” refers to the linguistic or sym- interpretation and thinking structure of people or organiza- bolic expression of the framework, including the rhetorical tions. Later, the concept of framework was applied to the style composed of characters and words, including Van analysis of mass media. Tuchman (1978) put forward the Dijk’s micro structure (local semantics), “style” and “rheto- concept of “news framework,” which believes that “News ric.” In the three-level structure, the high-level represents the framework helps journalists to write reports according to the abstract intention; the middle level, as the empirical orienta- current mainstream theory, and at the same time shape read- tion, represents the actual occurrence and can be tested, and ers’ understanding of facts.” As far as the media is concerned, the low-level represents the operation or instruction orienta- the media framework refers to a specific point of view used tion (Chen, 1998). by the mass media when reporting something, the way of explanation, the definition of the problem and the benchmark Research Process of comments (Zhai, 2002). The theory of “Media Framework” proposed by Zang In order to study the attitude and position of the Chinese gov- (1999) and others of National Political University in Taiwan ernment on Sino-US trade friction, and analyze the charac- has a great influence among mainland researchers. It can be teristics and strategies of the Chinese government in dealing 4 SAGE Open High rise structure: High rise structure: High rise structure: (A purpose) (A purpose) (A purpose) introduction /title/quotation Mediating structure: Mediating Structure: Mediating structure: major events/ Choice Choice history to Major events to major events/ /results/ recombination / recombination history/results/attribution/ attribution history/results comments /comments /attribution/ comments Low rise structure: Low rise structure: Low rise structure: (Language) (Language) (Language) rhetoric/ Rhetoric/ rhetoric/ grammar/ Grammar/ grammar/ metaphor metaphor metaphor Figure 1. Three-level structure of news media framework. with Sino-US trade friction, the paper will analyze the activities. During this period, both China and the United sources of the sample, study the way that the Chinese gov- States fully expressed their own views and attitudes, and ernment dominates the news public opinion to shape the directly evaluated and responded to the corresponding facts through the choice of the news, and analyzes the rele- behavior. vant reports, the effect of source control is studied. Secondly, The samples of People’s Daily are obtained from the the paper studies the main purpose, event framework, and search platform of the website of People’s Daily (www.peo- reporting tendency of the Chinese government on Sino-US ple.com.cn), where the advanced search method is adopted to trade friction in an overall way by using the framework anal- retrieve the news reports with the words “Sino-US trade fric- ysis theory to analyze the basic attitude and position of the tion” in the full text, where the date range is set from August Chinese government toward Sino-US trade friction, and ana- 1st to September 30th, 2019, and the search scope is People’s lyzes the strategies of the Chinese government and the inten- Daily. After browsing the full text of the samples, only the tion and characteristics of resolving trade conflicts, so as to contents related to trade friction between China and the win support internationally and safeguard the world trade United States are retained, and finally 43 valid samples are order. The prosperity and development of the international obtained. According to the purpose of the paper, the author economy and society, world trade cooperation and benign sorted the 43 papers in chronological order, and classified interaction will get promoted; the comparative advantages of them according to the main event categories and sources of all countries will be given full play to, the efficiency, devel- news reports. The classification of 43 retrieval samples opment, and fairness of the world economy improved. according to the main event categories and news sources are shown in Appendix. Sample Extraction Analysis Process This paper selects the news reports from August 1st to September 30th 2019 as the sampling time range. The reason The news source analysis and the frame analysis method are is that on August 1, the United States claimed that it would employed in the paper. The news sources analysis is “one of impose a 10% tariff on U.S. $300 billion goods exported the important bases for the audience to decide whether they from China to the United States on September 1, thus pro- believe and accept news facts.” (Zang, 1999) and belongs to voking a new trade dispute between China and the United the research methods commonly used in the field of news States. Within 2 months, China actively negotiated with the communication. This article employs the news sources anal- United States while having to carry out anti-terrorism ysis method to quantitatively analyze the news sources of Linjing 5 Figure 2. Analysis of the news sources of People’s Daily. People’s Daily report on Sino-U.S. trade frictions from for about 7.0%. On the whole, the relevant news reports August 1 to September 30, 2019 in terms of news sources, from the Chinese government accounted for the highest pro- report theme, schema structure, and reporting tendency, and portion, accounting for 37.2% of the total reports, with a probes into the analytical framework and news sources char- total of 16 articles, followed by reports from the United acteristics of Sino-US trade friction news reports. States, accounting for 20.9% of the total, with a total of 9 articles; and the reports from Chinese experts and scholars News sources analysis. The media selects and sorts sources accounted for 16.3% of the total, with a total of 7 articles. of news to form a news frame, construct the opinions to The number of reports from American media and Chinese be expressed, and reflect the basic attitudes and tendencies people is the least. (Ma, 2012). News sources are an important part of the news From the news sources of People’s Daily, the news reports media’s framework. This article attempts to divide the news mainly focus on the views of the Chinese government, experts, sources into the following categories: (a) U.S. official: U.S. and scholars, take into account the voice of the U.S. govern- government agencies and officials; (b) Chinese official: Chi- ment and the American people, and reflect the international nese government agencies and officials; (c) American media; community’s position on the Sino-US trade friction. It can be (d) American experts and scholars; (e) Chinese experts and considered that People’s Daily shows the truth of Sino-US scholars; (f) American folk: American economic and trade trade friction to the world from various angles, and effectively circles, business people, and businesses; (g) Chinese folk; promotes the profound development of China and the United (h) The international community. States. It has effectively stimulated China and the United According to the above Figure 2, relevant news reports in States to deeply reflect on the far-reaching impact of trade fric- China accounted for 58.2% of all searched samples, of tions on the world economy, which can promote the strength- which 37.2% were official reports from the Chinese govern- ening of dialogue and communication between the two parties ment; 16.3% were relevant reports from Chinese economic and the settlement of trade disputes through negotiations, experts; and 4.7% were reports from Chinese folk. People’s People’s Daily’s news sources framework shows the fol- Daily’s citing news reports from the United States accounted lowing characteristics: for 34.9%, of which relevant reports from American civil organizations accounted for 20.9%(18.6% + 2.3%), relevant (1) Chinese officials are the main source of information. reports from U.S. economic experts accounted for 7.0%, and Chinese government agencies and officials are the relevant news reports from U.S. media accounted for 2.3%; most prominent of People’s Daily news sources, relevant reports from the international community account accounting for 34.9% of the total. Although the 6 SAGE Open economic and trade frictions between China and the folk. Concerned about Chinese experts and scholars, United States are economic issues, the major issues it shows that People’s Daily not only pays attention related to China’s national economy and people’s to the expression of official positions, but also livelihood are major issues related to the stability of attaches importance to scholars’ analysis of events. world economic development. The official source of At the same time, economic and trade frictions the government department is the main source of belong to economic issues, so essentially, the opin- information. From different news sources and in dif- ions of experts and scholars who understand and ferent ways, these news reveal the impact of Sino-US respect the objective laws of the market economy economic and trade friction on the two countries’ are required to provide fundamental support. The economy, and the far-reaching impact of trade fric- analysis and demonstration of experts and scholars tion on Sino-US diplomatic relations. The Chinese makes the report more scientific and credible and government timely released its official position and persuasive. However, People’s Daily paid less atten- publicly expressed its views on Sino-US economic tion to the public response, which failed to be and trade frictions, which has a distinct guiding role prompted by many people, making the report not in solving the economic and trade friction between very specific and timely. At the same time, unlike China and the United States. So that the Chinese and the opposition and criticism of the American people American governments and non-governmental orga- who have been negatively affected, the lack of nizations can better understand the truth of trade fric- Chinese folk voices reflects China’s economic sta- tions, adjust their psychological expectations, and bility, and has little impact on the daily life of ordi- reach new consensus, so as to deal with trade fric- nary Chinese people, who have not paid attention to tions in a better way. People’s Daily, as a large news- the Sino-US trade friction. The trade friction between paper at the central level in China, needs to spread China and the United States has a greater impact on the voice of the Chinese official, so the Chinese offi- American society. In comparison, the life of ordi- cial occupies a large proportion of the source. nary Chinese people has not been greatly impacted. (2) People’s Daily pays more attention to subjects from This also reflects that in the Sino-US trade friction, the American private sector such as the U.S. economic the U.S. side has suffered from more obvious losses, and trade community, business people, and compa- which has a far-reaching impact on the economic nies. These entities account for 21% of the total development of the United States. sources of information in People’s Daily. At the same time, People’s Daily pays less attention to the content Report Theme Framework Analysis of American experts, officials, and the media, indicat- ing that in such reports, the Chinese ideology still the According to the purpose of this paper, the following will main manifestation. The news reporting strategy of analyze the retrieved news samples from the news sources, People’s Daily shows that under the conditions at that report theme, schema structure, reporting tendency, and time, China was unwilling to have direct conflicts with other aspects, so as to explain the way and characteristics of the U.S. government. China still wanted to solve the People’s Daily in building the news framework of Sino-US trade friction problem through dialogue and communi- trade friction. cation, rather than forcing the other party to stop trade The subject of a news report is a summary of its content. friction by blaming the other party’s shortcomings. The report theme is the news facts and the ideological con- The Chinese language adopts an indirect and soft dia- notation of the media reports, which also builds a high-level logue strategy (Cao, 2013), which gives the U.S. gov- framework for news. ernment time for self reflection. In relevant news According to the above chart (Table 1), after studying the reports, People’s Daily selects the words and facts of relevant news reports of People’s Daily, it is found that the the American people, and shows the world the adverse focus of news reports in People’s Daily is more on the words effects of Sino-US trade friction on the two countries’ of both sides, with a total of 32 reports, accounting for 74.4% economy and ordinary people’s lives with indisputable of the total reports. In addition, although there are three dif- facts, so as to win the support and understanding of the ferent subjects in the speech debate news reports, including international community, and urge the U.S. govern- American folk, experts, and scholars, Chinese officials and ment to change its trade friction policy and realize the the international community, there are 21 articles that criti- reasonable settlement of trade disputes. cize and reflect the negative impact of the U.S. government’s (3) The proportion of Chinese experts and scholars as arbitrary tariff increase, accounting for 48.8% of the total news sources in People’s Daily is relatively large, report. The reporting theme framework of People’s Daily has but it basically does not reflect the voices of Chinese the following characteristics: Linjing 7 Table 1. Analysis of the Report Theme Framework of People’s Daily. Category Main body Type subdivision Number of articles Action China and the United States Common dialogue 5 China Measures to be taken against U.S. actions 6 Speech American folk, local, and U.S. official behavioral criticism 4 expert scholars Reflect the negative impact of tariff increases on domestic 9 Chinese official Prediction and analysis of Chinese behavior 9 U.S. official behavioral criticism 5 China’s further response 2 International community U.S. official behavioral criticism 3 (1) Words speak louder than actions. There are 11 arti- (3) Among the 25 articles in People’s Daily, words and cles reflecting action, accounting for 25.6% of the actions from Chinese side were the most concerned, total report. It focuses on China’s response to the accounting for 58.1%. Among them, the forecast and U.S. tariff increase and the dialogue between the two analysis of China’s actions are more than those of sides. It does not directly report the U.S. tariff Chinese action reports. The forecast of China’s increase. The purpose is to avoid confrontation with actions shows China’s resolute attitude toward the the U.S. government and intensify the spear shield, U.S. side’s wrong behavior, and influences the spe- so as to put the Sino-US trade friction in a control- cific strategies of the U.S. government through spe- lable state and increase the communication and cific news reports, so as to make the U.S. government cooperation between China and the United States. understand the consequences and harm of continu- This kind of indirect strategy adopted by People’s ing to stir up trade frictions, so as to carefully con- Daily can express China’s disapproval of the sider the feasible ways to solve the trade friction, American insistence on carrying out trade friction return to the way of settling trade disputes through policy, and also show Chinese attitude of continuing negotiation, and realize the balance of interests of to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with the both sides of trade through negotiation, so as to United States. In the reports of reaction language, solve the problem of trade friction. The analysis of People’s Daily pays more attention to the expression China’s actions reflects China’s image as a respon- of Chinese officials and American people. Although sible big country taking full account of domestic and there are three main bodies, they all criticize the foreign influences and taking countermeasures. The arbitrary imposition of tariffs by American officials forenotice and analysis of China’s actions are closely and reflect on their negative effects. The main pur- followed by the contents of China’s action reports. It pose of these news reports is to expose the negative shows that People’s Daily has comments attached to effects brought about by Sino-US trade friction, with the reports from Chinese officials to explain the offi- the intention of gaining support and sympathy of the cial voice, show the position and attitude of the international community, and the trade friction with media, and play a correct role in guiding public the United States can be solved on the basis of equal opinion and analyzing the report theme framework consultation, which directly reflects the attitude of of People’s Daily. Chinese official. (2) People’s Daily focuses on the criticism and warning Report Schema Framework Analysis of the U.S. official tariff increase. There are 21 reports in this regard, accounting for 48.8% of the The middle structure of the report frame is the schema of the total reports, accounting for almost half of the total report. In the text discourse of news, the order of the text is reports. From this, it can be clearly seen that the determined by the news theme. The schematic structure of Chinese government toward the U.S. tariff increase the news reflects the order of the various elements of the holds an opposing attitude; the other half of the news news, and the news text formed from it can achieve the pur- reports suggest that China and the United States pose of emphasizing and highlighting the theme of the news. should strengthen communication and cooperation Van Dijk (1995) believes that the general meaning of dis- with dialogue, so as to end trade frictions on the course (macro-structure) usually has its own organizational premise of win-win cooperation and realize the nor- principles, and also needs some general syntax to limit the malization of economic and trade relations. possible forms in which topics are inserted or arranged in 8 SAGE Open Table 2. Percentage of Related News Report Schema Structure As can be seen from the above chart (Table 2), the spo- in the Total Text of People’s Daily.. ken response part accounts for the largest proportion in the schematic structure of People’s Daily, accounting for as Schema Percentage of total text much as 54.50% of the total text, reflecting a way of report- Main event 6.58 ing that emphasizes speech; the history part accounted for Previous events 2.35 0.17%, and the previous events and consequences also History 0.17 accounted for 6.14% (2.35% + 3.79%). It can be seen that Consequence 3.79 the schematic structure of People’s Daily’s report on Spoken response 54.50 Sino-US economic and trade frictions is incomplete. The Evaluation 6.95 schematic structure of People’s Daily presents the follow- Attribution 5.85 ing characteristics: (1) The spoken response occupies the most important actual text. Van Dijk (1995) divides the schema structure into position, and the subject of the spoken response is the following categories: title, introduction, main event, con- mainly Chinese officials. A large number of spoken sequence, environment, previous event, history, oral responses are added to guide the audience to under- response, prediction, and evaluation. stand China’s position and attitude on the Sino-US The analysis of news schema structure is consistent with economic and trade frictions, and promote the role the connotation of news framework theory. In Zang Guoren’s of public opinion guidance. In addition, the spoken frame structure hierarchy theory, the schematic structure of language response in People’s Daily is diversified, news is also used as the middle structure of the frame, which not only reflecting the opinions of Chinese officials, is divided into major events, previous events, history, results, focusing on expressing Chinese officials’ stand- impact, attribution, and evaluation. This section combines points, but also encompasses a large number of the analysis of Van Dijk’s (1998) schema structure with Zang Chinese and international experts and scholars’ anal- Guoren’s theory of the middle structure of the news frame, ysis of the cause and history of the event, the evalu- and divides the schema structure of this paper into seven cat- ation and prediction of the impact of the event, and egories according to the specific situation of the study. The the expression of the opinions of various subjects. specific schema structure categories are as follows: Economic issues in news reports are mainly ana- lyzed by quoting the views of economic experts and (1) Major events: Reports on the actions taken by the scholars. It is reasonable to comment on China’s Chinese side in handling the issue of trade frictions, trade behavior in news reports on the basis of and core events in dealing with Sino-US trade respecting the laws of market economy. At the same frictions. time, it is proved that the American groundless inter- (2) Previous events: Previous events with direct causal national economic and trade rules violate the eco- relationship with major events in the Sino-US trade nomic laws when provoking Sino-US economic and friction are reported. trade frictions. (3) History: Reports on the historical background and (2) In the main events part of the news report, the words historical events in the Sino-US trade friction. and deeds of the U.S. government in promoting the (4) Consequences: Speeches, actions, and consequences of escalation of Sino-US economic and trade frictions the conflicts between the parties in the Sino-US trade and conflicts are insufficient, and the reports on friction, including direct results and indirect effects. China’s defensive actions to safeguard China’s eco- (5) Oral response: Opinions expressed by relevant per- nomic and trade interests are emphasized. People’s sonnel on the Sino-US trade friction, including polit- Daily basically does not describe the way the U.S. ical figures, experts, scholars, and folk figures. provokes trade conflicts in the main events, but (6) Evaluation: News media’s assessment of relevant reports on the U.S. unilaterally provoking and esca- issues arising from the Sino-US trade friction, and lating economic and trade frictions, which are often expresses their views and attitudes. It mainly includes put in the previous events and oral reactions, and two aspects of evaluation and forecasting. Evaluation analyzed and exposed by relevant experts and schol- is to judge and summarize the meaning of news ars, but not as a special report of the main events. events; forecasting is to explain the possible impact The reports on the wrong words and deeds of the of news events and future development trends. U.S. side are mainly interspersed in the reports on (7) Attribution: Analysis of the causes of related events China’s behavior, stance, and attitude, so as to better of the Sino-US trade friction in news reports. explain China’s stance and policy. Linjing 9 Figure 3. Analysis of People’s Daily reporting tendency. (3) The structure is stylized and unitary. People’s Daily’s event + oral response” and its simple deformation reports on Sino-US economic and trade frictions account for about 63.43% (54.50% + 2.35% + 6.58%) often appear in fixed forms and pages. The basic of the total text. The schema structure of news schema structure of People’s Daily is “prior reports is single, with few changes, and slightly stiff events + major events + oral reactions” (some of writing style. which are transformed into “prior events + oral reac- tions”) for the actions of the United States unilater- ally imposing tariffs in violation of the consensus Report Tendency Analysis reached at the meeting between China and the United Based on the three evaluation indicators of positive report, States, The structure model generally takes the U.S. negative report, and neutral report, this article classifies and action of imposing tariffs as the prior event, and the sorts out the sample information of the website of People’s Chinese side responds, which shows that the oral Daily (www.people.com.cn). According to the attitude of response part overlaps with the main event part. The People’s Daily in selecting news reports, with nearly half of relevant news reports were interspersed with conse- the non emotional reports, People’s Daily objectively and quences and assessments, and the reports focused fairly reflects the truth of Sino-US economic and trade fric- on the response of Chinese officials to the Sino-US tions, shows the world the causes, process and development economic and trade frictions. This kind of structure process of Sino-US trade frictions, and demonstrates China’s accounted for about 10.74% (3.79% + 6.95%), and concept of peaceful development and shared development to its specific form was mainly to deliver news. In the world through fair and objective facts, which also fully addition, the relevant news reports in People’s demonstrates China’s hope for cooperation, consultation, Daily pay more attention to the interview reports on and equal dialogue to promote the resolution of Sino-US the impact of the U.S. tariff increase and the reports trade frictions and stimulate the wish of social and economic on the Chinese expert seminar. In the opening prosperity and development. part of the introduction, the structure of “previous events + major events + oral reaction” will be As can be seen from the above chart (Figure 3), there are adopted to briefly introduce the events of the meet- 18 reports about the U.S. side’s negative words and actions, ing, the main problems in the news and the attitude accounting for 41.9% of the total number, followed by neu- of the Chinese side. The following content is mainly tral reports on China’s words and actions, with 11 reports, based on expert opinions, in order to avoid the esca- accounting for 25.6% of the total. lation of direct conflict with the U.S. government in At the same time, the keywords expressed under different news reports. The structure of “previous event + main themes in People’s Daily were extracted for word frequency 10 SAGE Open Table 3. Topic Summary and Keyword Frequency Statistics for Different Trends. Category Topic Vocabulary Frequency Neutral reporting The expectations and efforts Negotiation（磋商）, hope（希望）, dialogue（通话） 40 involving both of China and the United parties (accounting States in the common for 3.6%) dialogue Positive reports The status Quo and prospects Cooperation（合作）, future（未来）, win-win 58 involving China of good cooperation result（共赢） (40%) between China and the U.S. civil and world economy China actively responds to Exclusion（排除）, response（应对）, solve（解决）, 131 the impact of economic and defend（捍卫）, full consideration（充分考虑）, trade frictions resolute（坚决）, persist（坚持） Positive(积极）, compelling(不得不), reasonable, advantageous and prudent（有理有利有节）, unwilling（不愿）, confident（信心） China’s stable and progressive Strong（强）, ability（能力）, toughness（韧性）, 236 economic strength maintenance（保持）, continuity（持续）, stability （稳定）, potential潜力 Development（发展）, growth（增长） increase（增 加）, enhancement（增强）, promote（推动） Innovation（创新）, openness（开放）, high-quality development（高质量发展）, advancement（推 进）, promotion（促进）, expansion（扩大）, diversification（多元化） China’s image of a responsible Commitment,（承诺）, stability（稳定）, fulfillment 22 and responsible country （履行）, maintenance（维护 ） Negative reports The negative impact of tariff Cause（导致）, damage（损害,破坏）, loss（损失）, involving the U.S. increases on the U.S. and the serious（严重）, problem（问题）, cost（代价）, (56.4%) world economy difficulty（困难）, uncertainty（不确定性）, decline （下降）, disadvantage（不利）, error（错误）, threat（威胁）, negative impact（负面影响）, risk （风险）, burden（负担）, consequence（后果）, harm （伤害,危害）, Imbalance（失衡）, shock （冲击）, drag（拖累） The U.S. proactively stirs up Escalation（升级）, provocation（挑起）, extreme 211 and escalates trade frictions pressure（极限施压）, violation（违背）, that violate morals and rules manipulation（操纵）, accusation（指责）, bullying （霸凌）, trampling（践踏） Unilateralism（单边主义）, rebellion（出尔反尔）, treachery（背信弃义）, lack of faith（言而无信）, trade protectionism（贸易保护主义）, hegemonism （霸权主义）, self-interest（利己）, recklessness （肆意）, unilateralism （单方面） Criticisms and oppositions Objection（反对）, criticism（批评）, worry（担忧）, 52 to U.S. Government raising dissatisfaction（不满）, disappointment（失望）, tariffs by local U.S. and other pain（痛苦）, worry（担心） countries analysis. According to the retrieval results of various tenden- was 40, accounting for 3.6%. From the above data analysis, tious words, the frequency of positive words related to it can be seen that People’s Daily is most concerned about the Chinese reports was 447, accounting for 40%; the frequency negative impact of the unilateral tariff increase of the United States on its domestic and world economy, and China’s eco- of using negative words in reports involving the United nomic strength to cope with the impact steadily. It has shaped States was 630, accounting for 56.4%; the frequency of neu- the image of the United States as an irresponsible country at tral words in reports involving China and the United States Linjing 11 the expense of others, and China’s image of a responsible big (3) People’s Daily’s position on Sino-US trade friction country firmly defending its own rights and international is consistent with that of the Chinese government. rules. In sharp contrast, the words used in the report are pre- Chinese media serve the Party, the state, and the cise and accurate, with distinct emotional color and firm people. As a major central newspaper, People’s stand. The subject and vocabulary retrieval frequency of 43 Daily must have its reports from the perspective of articles retrieved from People’s Daily are shown in Table 3. China’s national interests. The content of the report reflects the direction of national policies and the (1) When referring to China’s economic strength, Chinese government’s specific strategies and “strong”（强） and “development” （发展）are objective responses to Sino-US trade friction at the most frequently used words, reflecting China’s that time. strong confidence in its own economic foundation in the face of the crisis brought about by the U.S. side’s Brief Description of Research Results arbitrary tariff increase. In addition, “exclusion”（ 排除） and “response” （应对）are the most fre- From the above analysis, it can be seen that People’s Daily in quently used words in reflecting China’s positive the report on Sino-U.S. economic and trade frictions presents measures to impose tariffs, and emphasizing China’s a China-led protection framework for rights and interests. It countermeasures. The measures are “reasonable, attaches importance to conveying the Chinese government’s advantageous, and prudent”（有理有利有节）. position and policies on handling the U.S. tariff increase Taking countermeasures against the U.S. side is a issue, and explaining China’s rationality of systemic activi- forced, inevitable, and confident move. People’s ties. It has given the United States a firm and powerful boost Daily has also said that China is looking forward to to unilateral escalation of trade frictions and unprovoked the future, starting from the overall situation of accusations. The counterattack showed China’s firm deter- maintaining the stability of China and the United mination to maintain the healthy development of the coun- States and the world economy, emphasizing “coop- try’s economy. eration”（合作） and “hope”（希望） that China In terms of news structure (Ye, 2014), People’s Daily and the United States will actively engage in equal attaches great importance to spoken responses. The choice of and effective dialogue and create necessary condi- news content is biased toward China, and reports on the tions for the restoration of friendly cooperation. This United States do not pay attention to the voices of the U.S. is the sincerity and goodwill of the Chinese govern- official and U.S. media, but specifically go deep into some ment in solving the Sino-US trade friction issues, states and the folk. The choice of source of news is centered and also shows China’s trade cooperation. The prin- on sources from China’s official background. At the same cipled position and the bottom line of solving the time, it attaches great importance to the analysis of problems problem will play an important role in promoting the by experts and scholars. Social groups, the public, and for- settlement of Sino-US trade friction. eign news sources outside the United States account for a (2) In the negative reports concerning the U.S. side, small proportion of the reports. “cause”（导致）and “damage” （损害）are the As a mainstream newspaper of the Party Central most frequently used words. The U.S. tariff increase Committee (Liao, 2012), People’s Daily does not only give is contrary to the actual consequences, which is priority to positive propaganda, but also should have a cer- wrong and ineffective. At the same time, People’s tain amount of constructive and critical reports. Therefore, Daily used rigorous terms such as “trade protection- when carrying out positive publicity, People’s Daily is sup- ism”（贸易保护主义）, “hegemonism” （霸权主 posed to criticize the relevant people and things, so as to 义）and “unilateralism”（单边主义） to qualita- make news develop in a better direction to serve the people tively define the U.S. words and actions in an objec- and contribute to social construction. The development tive and detailed analysis, exposing concisely the direction of Sino-US trade frictions should get guidance to motives behind the U.S. escalating economic and promote the proper settlement of Sino-US trade frictions trade friction. In terms of criticism of the U.S. side, with more favorable measures, provide basic models and there are strong negative emotional words such as examples for all countries in the world to fairly and truly “worry”（担忧）, “dissatisfaction”（不满）, “dis- solve trade conflicts, better promote the benign development appointment”（失望）, and “pain”（痛苦）. To and prosperity of the world economy, achieve mutual benefit sum up, People’s Daily has sternly criticized and and win-win results, share the fruits of world economic warned the United States in various ways. development, and benefit human society. 12 SAGE Open Appendix. The Classification of 43 Retrieval Samples According to the Main Event Categories and News Sources. Main event categories of news Analysis of news news News headlines reports sources Newspaper layout The 12th Round of Sino-US High-Level Economic and Positive Report on China’s Chinese Official August 1, 3rd Page Trade Consultation Held in Shanghai Words and Deeds All Walks of Life in the United States Strongly Oppose Negative Reports on American American Folk August 3, 3rd Page the Government’s New Round of Measures to Tax Words and Deeds China: “Expanding the Scope of Taxation will only Make the Problem Worse.” If the U.S. side Imposes Tariffs, China Will Have to Negative Reports on American Chinese Official August 3, 3rd Page Take Necessary Countermeasures, and All the Words and Deeds Consequences Will be Borne by the U.S. Side The U.S. Side Plans to Impose a 10% Tariff on US Positive Report on China’s U.S. Official August 3, 3rd Page $300 Billion of Chinese Goods Exported to the U.S. Words and Deeds China strongly Opposes it and will Take Necessary Measures to Firmly Defend its own Interests The Federation of German Industries Criticizes the Negative Reports on American International Society August 5, 3rd Page New U.S. Threat of Imposing Tariffs on China Words and Deeds Relevant Chinese Enterprises Suspend New U.S. China’s Neutral Report Chinese Official August 6, 3rd Page Agricultural Products Procurement The United States Accuses Me of not Buying Positive Report on China’s Chinese Official August 6, 3rd Page Agricultural Products and Lacks Factual Basis Words and Deeds Seminar Held by National Institute of Development and A Comparative Report on the Chinese Experts and August 6, 3rd Page Strategy, Renmin University of China Positive and Negative Aspects Scholars of Chinese and American Words and Deeds People in the U.S. Economic and Trade Circles Negative Reports on American American Experts and August 7, 3rd Page Criticized the Government’s Trade Policy Toward Words and Deeds Scholars China: “Imposing Tariffs Will Only Reduce the U.S. Competitiveness.” A Foreign Ministry Spokesman Answered a Reporter’s China’s Neutral Report Chinese Official August 7, 3rd Page Question on the Suspension of New U.S. Agricultural Products Procurement by Chinese Enterprises Foreign Media and Experts Criticized the U.S. Extreme Negative Reports on American International Society August 9, 3rd Page Pressure Tactics: “It is Unreasonable and Rude to Words and Deeds Impose Tariffs Arbitrarily.” American Media Warn that Wrong Trade Policy will Negative Reports on American American Media August 10, 3rd Page Lead to American Economic Recession Words and Deeds Seminar on Evaluating the Development Trend of A Comparative Report on the Chinese experts and August 10, 3rd Page Sino-US Relations Held by China Institute of Modern Positive and Negative Aspects scholars International Relations of Chinese and American Words and Deeds American Experts and Scholars Criticized the Negative Reports on American American experts and August 12, 3rd Page Government for Upgrading the Economic and Trade Words and Deeds scholars Friction with China “The Interests of American Enterprises and Consumers are Being Damaged” Call between Leaders of Sino-US High-Level Economic Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese Official August 14, 3rd Page and Trade Consultation Report “Local Cooperation Between the United States and A Comparative Report on the American Folk August 16, 3rd Page China Is Hard to Stop” Positive and Negative Aspects of Chinese and American Words and Deeds The Person in Charge of the Tariff Commission of the A Comparative Report on the Chinese Official August 16, 3rd Page State Council Delivered a Speech Positive and Negative Aspects of Chinese and American Words and Deeds At the Seminar on Sino-US Economic and Trade Issues Negative reports on American Chinese folk August 17, 3rd Page Held by the China Academy of International Studies, Words and Deeds Experts Agreed that the Irresponsible Approach of the U.S. Side is Bound to Fail (continued) Linjing 13 Appendix. (continued) Main event categories of news Analysis of news news News headlines reports sources Newspaper layout The Tariff Commission of the State Council Announced A Comparative Report on the U.S .official August 24, 3rd Page that It Decided to Impose Additional Tariffs on about Positive and Negative Aspects 75 Billion U.S. dollars of Imported Goods Originating of Chinese and American in the United States Words and Deeds The Tariff Commission of the State Council has China’s Neutral Report Chinese official August 24, 3rd Page Announced that it has Decided to Resume the Imposition of Additional Tariffs on Automobiles and Parts Originating in the United States Experts’ Interpretation of China’s Counter Measures: China’s Neutral Report Chinese experts and August 24, 3rd Page Defending the Multilateral Trade System and its scholars Legitimate Rights and Interests All Walks of Life in the United States Strongly Oppose Negative Reports on American American folk August 25, Page 3 Raising the Tariff Rate on Chinese Goods Exported Words and Deeds to the United States: “The Escalation of Economic and Trade Frictions Will Only Bring More Pain to the United States.” A Spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce Made a Negative Reports on American Chinese official August 25, Page 3 Statement on the Announcement by the U.S. Side to Words and Deeds Further Increase the Tariff Rate on Chinese Goods Exported to the U.S. The Institute of International Trade and Economic A Comparative Report on the Chinese experts and August 26, Page 3 Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce Held an Positive and Negative Aspects scholars Expert Seminar on Sino-US Economic and Trade of Chinese and American Relations Words and Deeds It’s “a Huge Mistake” to Curb China’s Development: Negative Reports on American American experts and August 26, Page 3 A Visit to Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Columbia Words and Deeds scholars University The United States has Seriously Damaged the World Negative reports on American International society August 27, Page 3 Economy and International Trade Order Words and Deeds “This is Actually a Tax Increase on U.S. Enterprises and Negative Reports on American American Folk August 27, Page 3 Consumers”: U.S. Businessmen Strongly Oppose the Words and Deeds U.S. Tariff Increase Experts Attending the Seminar on Sino-US Economic Negative Reports on American Chinese experts and August 28, Page 3 and Trade Issues Said That the United States’ Blatant Words and Deeds scholars Violation of International Rules is Unpopular The United States Has Fallen into a Huge “Credibility Negative Reports on American American Folk August 28, Page 3 Gap”: Interview with Professor Oberstfeld of the Words and Deeds University of California, Berkeley Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Holds an Expert China’s Neutral Report Chinese experts and August 29, Page 3 Seminar scholars “We Don’t Want to be the Victim of Economic and Negative Reports on American American folk August 29, Page 3 Trade Frictions”: Interview with Marchius, Director Words and Deeds of American bicycle Suppliers Association The Relevant Head of the State Council Tariff Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese official August 30, Page 3 Commission Office Asked Reporters about the Report Imposition of Tariffs on Some Imported Goods Originating in the United States “American Shoemaking Industry cannot be Decoupled Negative Reports on American American Folk August 30, Page 3 from China” Words and Deeds Seminar Held by Institute of International Law, Wuhan A Comparative Report on the Chinese experts and August 31, Page 3 University: Mutual Benefit and Win-Win is the Choice Positive and Negative Aspects scholars to Conform to the Trend of the Times of Chinese and American Words and Deeds “Arbitrariness is Driving up the Cost of the U.S. Negative Reports on American American folk August 31, Page 3 Economy” Words and Deeds According to a Survey Conducted by Members of the China’s Neutral Report U.S. Official September 1, Page 3 National Committee on Sino-US Trade, 97% of the U.S. Enterprises Interviewed are Profitable in China, and Nearly 90% of the U.S. Enterprises Interviewed are Unwilling to Move Their Business out of China (continued) 14 SAGE Open Appendix. (continued) Main event categories of news Analysis of news news News headlines reports sources Newspaper layout Call Between Leaders of China US High -Level Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese official September 6, Page 3 Economic and Trade Consultation Report The Tariff Commission of the State Council Announced China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 12, the First Exclusion List of the First Batch of Goods Page 3 Subject to Additional Tariffs on the United States “Exclusion List” Reduces Pressure for Enterprises China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 12, Page 3 Sino-US Entrepreneur Dialogue Held in Beijing China’s Neutral Report Chinese Folk September 12, Page 3 China Imposes Tariff Exclusion on New U.S. China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 14, Agricultural Products Procurement Page 3 Vice Ministerial-Level Consultation on Sino-US Trade Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese Official September 22, and Economic Cooperation Held in Washington Report Page 3 China has Made a Positive Response to the U.S. Side’s China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 25, Release of the List of Tariff Exclusion Page 3 Acknowledgments References I would first like to thank my paper advisor Xin Bin of School of Ball, M. 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Young of philosophy and social science research at Jiangsu University Journalists, 16, 63–65. in 2019, “A Cognitive Study of Event Structure of Inchoative Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of Verbs from the Perspective of Typology” [grant number reality (pp. 244–246). Free Press. 2019SJZDA101]. Van Dijk, T. A. (1995). Discourse semantics and ideology. Discourse & Society, 6(2), 243–289. ORCID iD Van Dijk, T. A. (1998). Ideology: An interdisciplinary approach. Cao Linjing https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4294-5243 SAGE. Linjing 15 Weng, X. (1994). On the autonomy of news sources and journalists— Zang, G. (1999). News media and sources: A discussion on media on the function of Journalists’ Association. Dialogue between framework and real construction (pp. 113–125). Sanmin journalism and art. Institute of Journalism of Political University. Publishing House. Weng, X. (1997). News and the construction of social reality: The Zhai, Z. (2002). 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A Study on the Theoretical Framework of Discourse Analysis of China’s Response to Sino-US Trade Frictions:

Linjing, Cao
SAGE Open , Volume 12 (1): 1 – Mar 23, 2022
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Abstract

This paper selects the reports on Sino-US trade friction published by People’s Daily from August 2, 2019, when the United States announced that it would impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the United States, until the end of September 2019. Based on Zang Guoren’s news framework theory, this paper used the method of content analysis and framework analysis to analyze the four aspects of news source, reporting theme, schema structure, and reporting tendency. This paper analyzes the characteristics of the news framework constructed by People’s Daily under the publication strategy of Sino-US trade friction news reports. People’s Daily constructs the basic framework of news report with the main body showing the evaluation of China’s tariff increase policy of the United States. The theme of this paper is to focus on the ways in which China’s mainstream media People’s Daily reports Sino-US trade frictions, and find out the fundamental differences between China and the United States in the process of analyzing relevant news reports. People’s Daily attaches great importance to the expression of Chinese speech position in terms of news report selection strategy, focusing on dialogue, cooperation, and discourse communication, supplemented by criticism and refutation, focusing on the future prospects of Sino-US economic and trade relations, and emphasizing “speech communication” more than “counter action.” The related reports on Sino-US trade frictions in People’s Daily retrieved in this paper reflect China’s strong confidence in its own economic development strength in the face of the trade crisis brought about by the arbitrary imposition of tariffs by the United States. It also emphasizes the principle of “reasonable, advantageous, and prudent” adopted by China’s counter-measures, highlighting China’s desire to actively engage in equal and effective dialogue with the U.S., and expressing the Chinese government’s willingness to actively resolve Sino-US trade frictions under the premise of “mutual benefit and win-win results.” Keywords Sino-US trade friction, People’s Daily, theoretical framework, news sources, media conflict, and analyzes the choice of news sources and their Research Purpose and Value attitude and position on shaping China’s mainstream media The economic and trade friction between China and the to relevant events. United States has a significant and far-reaching impact on Combined with the research on the news frame structure the development of the world economy, which has aroused of China’s mainstream media reporting trade friction between the wide attention of all countries in the world. The United China and the United States, from the aspects of news States is the largest developed country and the largest econ- sources, report theme, schema structure, and reporting ten- omy in the world, while China is the largest developing dency, this paper discusses the basic attitude and position of country and the second largest economy in the world. The the Chinese government toward Sino-US economic and attitude of both sides toward the situation of trade friction trade frictions as well as the principles and methods of determines the development trend. The risk management and dealing with the contradictions between the two sides, finds control strategies of trade friction between the two sides have become the focus of the world. Adopting the research method of the news media framework of Zang Guoren, a scholar of Jiangsu Open University, Nanjing, China Taiwan, starting from China’s relevant news reports on Corresponding Author: Sino-US trade friction, this paper searches and analyzes 43 Cao Linjing, School of Foreign Languages, Jiangsu Open University, No. news articles in People’s Daily of China from August 1 to 399 Jiangdong North Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210000, China. Email: 306012407@qq.com September 30, 2019 about the Sino-US trade friction and Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open out the specific measures to improve Sino-US trade rela- article studies the basic attitude of the Chinese government tions, and provides objective auxiliary analysis for improv- in the process of the continuous escalation of Sino-US trade ing Sino-US economic and trade relations, so as to better friction, so as to provide assistant decision-making basis for avoid the miscalculation and intensification of contradictions promoting the rational settlement of trade disputes between between the two sides. In order to realize the normalization China and the United States. of Sino-US economic and trade relations, safeguard the global free trade and multilateral system, promote the sus- The Theoretical Basis of the Research tainable development of the world economy in the direction of mutual benefit and win-win results, and accelerate the In order to study the analysis framework of Sino-US eco- pace of world economic recovery, the frictions, and conflicts nomic and trade frictions in People’s Daily, the news between China and the United States in the field of economy sources of relevant news reports and the framework of and trade should be resolved. The globalization of the world media reports will be studied. News media rely on frame to economy should get promoted and economic prosperity and establish the main axis and structure of the report, and the recovery be achieved. information scattered in the real society into meaningful news content will get combined and thoroughly researched. Meanwhile, news sources also need to rely on the frame- Background and Significance of the work to organize their internal views, and organize the Research information into events or statements that can be accepted by the news media. The following introduces the influence On July 31, 2019, after the 12th round of China and U.S. of news sources theory and news framework analysis theory senior-level economic and trade consultation was concluded on news reporting. in Shanghai, the two sides not only had frank, efficient, and constructive in-depth exchanges on major issues of common concern in the economic and trade field, but also discussed News Sources Analysis Method China’s increase in agricultural products procurement from the United States according to Chinese domestic needs and News sources mainly refer to the owner and provider of the U.S. side’s efforts to create favorable conditions for pro- news sources. Through direct contact with news sources, curement, and agreed to hold the next round of consultations media reporters can understand and grasp the truth of news. in the United States in September. However, less than 2 days The audience can judge whether the news facts reported by ago, in the early hours of August 2, 2019, U.S. President journalists are authoritative and credible according to the Trump tweeted that he would impose a 10% tariff on U.S. sources of news. Therefore, news source is one of the impor- $300 billion Chinese exports to the United States from tant bases for the audience to decide whether they believe September 1, 2019. China’s CCTV news broadcast refuted and accept news facts, and it is also the basis and source of the renegade behavior of U.S. for four consecutive days. The the credibility of news reports (Zang, 1999). The source of trade friction policy adopted by the United States has led to news is the reliable basis for the truth of news. The choice of the continuous escalation of Sino-US economic and trade news sources for relevant reports by media determines the frictions, greatly harming the interests of China, the United quality and efficiency of news communication to a great States, and other countries, and seriously threatening the extent, and also reflects the influence and leading ability of multilateral trade system and free trade principles. In news media on public opinion. response to the above-mentioned measures of the United News sources have a strong influence on the credibility of States, China is forced to take countermeasures. A large news media reports. As Gandy (1982) believes, news does number of news articles were published in People’s Daily not necessarily represent the truth, but news reports represent from August 1st to September 30th, 2019, which provided the truth determined by the corresponding news sources. In in-depth reports on the continuously escalating trade friction fact, in the process of reporting facts, the news media always between China and the United States. give priority to some authoritative news sources to reflect the In order to have in-depth analysis and research on the media’s own world outlook and values. In the process of publication strategy of the Sino-U.S. trade friction news selecting news sources, there will be bias, which cannot report and the characteristics of the construction of the news achieve absolute fairness and justice (Chen,1993), and may framework of People’s Daily from August 1st to September prefer to choose powerful news sources. To a certain extent, 30th 2019, this paper takes the Sino-US trade friction news news reporting is class biased. It usually becomes a tool for published in People’s Daily at the same time as the research the dominant party to maintain its dominant position. sample, according to Zang’s (1999) news framework theory, From the perspective of journalism, news sources have a using the method of combining content analysis and frame significant impact on the organizational framework and objec- analysis. From the following four aspects: news sources, tivity of news reports. In providing descriptions and views of report theme, schema structure, and reporting tendency, the events, the news sources themselves also have subjective Linjing 3 understanding of the value and world outlook of the informa- regarded as the “mainstream” method for mainland Chinese tion providers themselves (Weng, 1994). Therefore, media researchers to analyze news text frames. news reports are often affected by external social factors. In In Zang’s (1999) works, he gave a variety of different the media news reports, it is inevitable to choose the sources of definitions of the frame in different contexts. Among them, news and the obvious bias of news reports. the news frame refers to “the subjective interpretation and In news reporting, the news media have the initiative of thinking structure of news media or journalists on events, whether to publish or how to report. They can decide when, which is the core meaning of news reporting,” “the abstract where and by whom to interview, and how to present news meaning of the world of symbols, representing the high-level from the perspective of organizational structure. The signifi- structure of speech, and presenting similar and consistent cance of news report is determined by journalists’ grasping interpretation directions in different media content.” Zang the characteristics of readers’ interest and the news audi- Guoren also regarded “genre,” “formula,” “schema,” “para- ence’s recognition of news report (Weng, 1997). When jour- digm,” “myth,” “metaphor,” “discourse,” etc. as similar to nalists report news events, on the one hand, they are the concept of the framework, and the meanings they repre- influenced by social structure (such as communication pol- sent overlap with the framework to some extent. Based on icy, media organization, wiring structure, etc.), on the other the above viewpoints, Zang’s (1999) “three-level structure” hand, they internalize certain ideologies (such as objective is in a broad sense, and the definition of framework is based reporting, news value, news type, news sources, etc.) into on “the subjective interpretation and thinking structure of daily work rules through the process of specialization, and events by people or organizations,” which refers to various construct news subjectively through the above rules. It can truths (objective truths, symbolic reality, and subjective real- be seen that culture and ideology can influence the process of ity) having internal structures of high, medium, and low lev- news sources participating in the construction of media els, as shown in the following Figure 1. authenticity. Through the research and analysis of news Taiwan scholar Zang Guoren proposed a framework of sources in news reports, the relationship between news high-, medium-, and low-level theories. In fact, the theory of sources and symbolic authenticity will be explored, so as to “Three-Level Structure of News Media Framework” of Zang reveal the news media’s understanding and attitude of news Guoren draws lessons from Van Dijk’s five categories of sources, and the views and action trends of social parties news structure. However, it makes a further generalization toward news event will be speculated. Thus, through investi- and extends to social reality and subjective reality. “High- gation and research, the methods and strategies to deal with level structure” refers to all kinds of real macro-structure news events have been decided to better promote the devel- meanings, which are often used to define the theme of an opment and progress of society. event, that is, “what is it that’s going on here.” In the media reality, it is what Van Dijk called “thematic structure,” which discusses the core meaning and theme of news (Ball, 1996). Approaches to News Frame Analysis “Middle- level structure” is derived from Van Dijk’s concept The concept of frame originated from Bateson (1955), which of “new model” (Chen, 1994), which is condensed into seven was introduced into cultural sociology by Goffman (1981) items: major events, previous events, history, results, influ- in his book Frame Analysis, and then into mass communica- ence, attribution, and evaluation (Malan, 2007). Previous tion research, which has become an important point in quali- events, history, results, and impacts are time variables before tative research (Zhang, 2005). According to Goffman, and after the occurrence of major events, while attribution framework is an important evidence for people to transform and evaluation belong to the causes and judgments of major social reality into subjective thoughts, that is, the subjective events. “Low-level structure” refers to the linguistic or sym- interpretation and thinking structure of people or organiza- bolic expression of the framework, including the rhetorical tions. Later, the concept of framework was applied to the style composed of characters and words, including Van analysis of mass media. Tuchman (1978) put forward the Dijk’s micro structure (local semantics), “style” and “rheto- concept of “news framework,” which believes that “News ric.” In the three-level structure, the high-level represents the framework helps journalists to write reports according to the abstract intention; the middle level, as the empirical orienta- current mainstream theory, and at the same time shape read- tion, represents the actual occurrence and can be tested, and ers’ understanding of facts.” As far as the media is concerned, the low-level represents the operation or instruction orienta- the media framework refers to a specific point of view used tion (Chen, 1998). by the mass media when reporting something, the way of explanation, the definition of the problem and the benchmark Research Process of comments (Zhai, 2002). The theory of “Media Framework” proposed by Zang In order to study the attitude and position of the Chinese gov- (1999) and others of National Political University in Taiwan ernment on Sino-US trade friction, and analyze the charac- has a great influence among mainland researchers. It can be teristics and strategies of the Chinese government in dealing 4 SAGE Open High rise structure: High rise structure: High rise structure: (A purpose) (A purpose) (A purpose) introduction /title/quotation Mediating structure: Mediating Structure: Mediating structure: major events/ Choice Choice history to Major events to major events/ /results/ recombination / recombination history/results/attribution/ attribution history/results comments /comments /attribution/ comments Low rise structure: Low rise structure: Low rise structure: (Language) (Language) (Language) rhetoric/ Rhetoric/ rhetoric/ grammar/ Grammar/ grammar/ metaphor metaphor metaphor Figure 1. Three-level structure of news media framework. with Sino-US trade friction, the paper will analyze the activities. During this period, both China and the United sources of the sample, study the way that the Chinese gov- States fully expressed their own views and attitudes, and ernment dominates the news public opinion to shape the directly evaluated and responded to the corresponding facts through the choice of the news, and analyzes the rele- behavior. vant reports, the effect of source control is studied. Secondly, The samples of People’s Daily are obtained from the the paper studies the main purpose, event framework, and search platform of the website of People’s Daily (www.peo- reporting tendency of the Chinese government on Sino-US ple.com.cn), where the advanced search method is adopted to trade friction in an overall way by using the framework anal- retrieve the news reports with the words “Sino-US trade fric- ysis theory to analyze the basic attitude and position of the tion” in the full text, where the date range is set from August Chinese government toward Sino-US trade friction, and ana- 1st to September 30th, 2019, and the search scope is People’s lyzes the strategies of the Chinese government and the inten- Daily. After browsing the full text of the samples, only the tion and characteristics of resolving trade conflicts, so as to contents related to trade friction between China and the win support internationally and safeguard the world trade United States are retained, and finally 43 valid samples are order. The prosperity and development of the international obtained. According to the purpose of the paper, the author economy and society, world trade cooperation and benign sorted the 43 papers in chronological order, and classified interaction will get promoted; the comparative advantages of them according to the main event categories and sources of all countries will be given full play to, the efficiency, devel- news reports. The classification of 43 retrieval samples opment, and fairness of the world economy improved. according to the main event categories and news sources are shown in Appendix. Sample Extraction Analysis Process This paper selects the news reports from August 1st to September 30th 2019 as the sampling time range. The reason The news source analysis and the frame analysis method are is that on August 1, the United States claimed that it would employed in the paper. The news sources analysis is “one of impose a 10% tariff on U.S. $300 billion goods exported the important bases for the audience to decide whether they from China to the United States on September 1, thus pro- believe and accept news facts.” (Zang, 1999) and belongs to voking a new trade dispute between China and the United the research methods commonly used in the field of news States. Within 2 months, China actively negotiated with the communication. This article employs the news sources anal- United States while having to carry out anti-terrorism ysis method to quantitatively analyze the news sources of Linjing 5 Figure 2. Analysis of the news sources of People’s Daily. People’s Daily report on Sino-U.S. trade frictions from for about 7.0%. On the whole, the relevant news reports August 1 to September 30, 2019 in terms of news sources, from the Chinese government accounted for the highest pro- report theme, schema structure, and reporting tendency, and portion, accounting for 37.2% of the total reports, with a probes into the analytical framework and news sources char- total of 16 articles, followed by reports from the United acteristics of Sino-US trade friction news reports. States, accounting for 20.9% of the total, with a total of 9 articles; and the reports from Chinese experts and scholars News sources analysis. The media selects and sorts sources accounted for 16.3% of the total, with a total of 7 articles. of news to form a news frame, construct the opinions to The number of reports from American media and Chinese be expressed, and reflect the basic attitudes and tendencies people is the least. (Ma, 2012). News sources are an important part of the news From the news sources of People’s Daily, the news reports media’s framework. This article attempts to divide the news mainly focus on the views of the Chinese government, experts, sources into the following categories: (a) U.S. official: U.S. and scholars, take into account the voice of the U.S. govern- government agencies and officials; (b) Chinese official: Chi- ment and the American people, and reflect the international nese government agencies and officials; (c) American media; community’s position on the Sino-US trade friction. It can be (d) American experts and scholars; (e) Chinese experts and considered that People’s Daily shows the truth of Sino-US scholars; (f) American folk: American economic and trade trade friction to the world from various angles, and effectively circles, business people, and businesses; (g) Chinese folk; promotes the profound development of China and the United (h) The international community. States. It has effectively stimulated China and the United According to the above Figure 2, relevant news reports in States to deeply reflect on the far-reaching impact of trade fric- China accounted for 58.2% of all searched samples, of tions on the world economy, which can promote the strength- which 37.2% were official reports from the Chinese govern- ening of dialogue and communication between the two parties ment; 16.3% were relevant reports from Chinese economic and the settlement of trade disputes through negotiations, experts; and 4.7% were reports from Chinese folk. People’s People’s Daily’s news sources framework shows the fol- Daily’s citing news reports from the United States accounted lowing characteristics: for 34.9%, of which relevant reports from American civil organizations accounted for 20.9%(18.6% + 2.3%), relevant (1) Chinese officials are the main source of information. reports from U.S. economic experts accounted for 7.0%, and Chinese government agencies and officials are the relevant news reports from U.S. media accounted for 2.3%; most prominent of People’s Daily news sources, relevant reports from the international community account accounting for 34.9% of the total. Although the 6 SAGE Open economic and trade frictions between China and the folk. Concerned about Chinese experts and scholars, United States are economic issues, the major issues it shows that People’s Daily not only pays attention related to China’s national economy and people’s to the expression of official positions, but also livelihood are major issues related to the stability of attaches importance to scholars’ analysis of events. world economic development. The official source of At the same time, economic and trade frictions the government department is the main source of belong to economic issues, so essentially, the opin- information. From different news sources and in dif- ions of experts and scholars who understand and ferent ways, these news reveal the impact of Sino-US respect the objective laws of the market economy economic and trade friction on the two countries’ are required to provide fundamental support. The economy, and the far-reaching impact of trade fric- analysis and demonstration of experts and scholars tion on Sino-US diplomatic relations. The Chinese makes the report more scientific and credible and government timely released its official position and persuasive. However, People’s Daily paid less atten- publicly expressed its views on Sino-US economic tion to the public response, which failed to be and trade frictions, which has a distinct guiding role prompted by many people, making the report not in solving the economic and trade friction between very specific and timely. At the same time, unlike China and the United States. So that the Chinese and the opposition and criticism of the American people American governments and non-governmental orga- who have been negatively affected, the lack of nizations can better understand the truth of trade fric- Chinese folk voices reflects China’s economic sta- tions, adjust their psychological expectations, and bility, and has little impact on the daily life of ordi- reach new consensus, so as to deal with trade fric- nary Chinese people, who have not paid attention to tions in a better way. People’s Daily, as a large news- the Sino-US trade friction. The trade friction between paper at the central level in China, needs to spread China and the United States has a greater impact on the voice of the Chinese official, so the Chinese offi- American society. In comparison, the life of ordi- cial occupies a large proportion of the source. nary Chinese people has not been greatly impacted. (2) People’s Daily pays more attention to subjects from This also reflects that in the Sino-US trade friction, the American private sector such as the U.S. economic the U.S. side has suffered from more obvious losses, and trade community, business people, and compa- which has a far-reaching impact on the economic nies. These entities account for 21% of the total development of the United States. sources of information in People’s Daily. At the same time, People’s Daily pays less attention to the content Report Theme Framework Analysis of American experts, officials, and the media, indicat- ing that in such reports, the Chinese ideology still the According to the purpose of this paper, the following will main manifestation. The news reporting strategy of analyze the retrieved news samples from the news sources, People’s Daily shows that under the conditions at that report theme, schema structure, reporting tendency, and time, China was unwilling to have direct conflicts with other aspects, so as to explain the way and characteristics of the U.S. government. China still wanted to solve the People’s Daily in building the news framework of Sino-US trade friction problem through dialogue and communi- trade friction. cation, rather than forcing the other party to stop trade The subject of a news report is a summary of its content. friction by blaming the other party’s shortcomings. The report theme is the news facts and the ideological con- The Chinese language adopts an indirect and soft dia- notation of the media reports, which also builds a high-level logue strategy (Cao, 2013), which gives the U.S. gov- framework for news. ernment time for self reflection. In relevant news According to the above chart (Table 1), after studying the reports, People’s Daily selects the words and facts of relevant news reports of People’s Daily, it is found that the the American people, and shows the world the adverse focus of news reports in People’s Daily is more on the words effects of Sino-US trade friction on the two countries’ of both sides, with a total of 32 reports, accounting for 74.4% economy and ordinary people’s lives with indisputable of the total reports. In addition, although there are three dif- facts, so as to win the support and understanding of the ferent subjects in the speech debate news reports, including international community, and urge the U.S. govern- American folk, experts, and scholars, Chinese officials and ment to change its trade friction policy and realize the the international community, there are 21 articles that criti- reasonable settlement of trade disputes. cize and reflect the negative impact of the U.S. government’s (3) The proportion of Chinese experts and scholars as arbitrary tariff increase, accounting for 48.8% of the total news sources in People’s Daily is relatively large, report. The reporting theme framework of People’s Daily has but it basically does not reflect the voices of Chinese the following characteristics: Linjing 7 Table 1. Analysis of the Report Theme Framework of People’s Daily. Category Main body Type subdivision Number of articles Action China and the United States Common dialogue 5 China Measures to be taken against U.S. actions 6 Speech American folk, local, and U.S. official behavioral criticism 4 expert scholars Reflect the negative impact of tariff increases on domestic 9 Chinese official Prediction and analysis of Chinese behavior 9 U.S. official behavioral criticism 5 China’s further response 2 International community U.S. official behavioral criticism 3 (1) Words speak louder than actions. There are 11 arti- (3) Among the 25 articles in People’s Daily, words and cles reflecting action, accounting for 25.6% of the actions from Chinese side were the most concerned, total report. It focuses on China’s response to the accounting for 58.1%. Among them, the forecast and U.S. tariff increase and the dialogue between the two analysis of China’s actions are more than those of sides. It does not directly report the U.S. tariff Chinese action reports. The forecast of China’s increase. The purpose is to avoid confrontation with actions shows China’s resolute attitude toward the the U.S. government and intensify the spear shield, U.S. side’s wrong behavior, and influences the spe- so as to put the Sino-US trade friction in a control- cific strategies of the U.S. government through spe- lable state and increase the communication and cific news reports, so as to make the U.S. government cooperation between China and the United States. understand the consequences and harm of continu- This kind of indirect strategy adopted by People’s ing to stir up trade frictions, so as to carefully con- Daily can express China’s disapproval of the sider the feasible ways to solve the trade friction, American insistence on carrying out trade friction return to the way of settling trade disputes through policy, and also show Chinese attitude of continuing negotiation, and realize the balance of interests of to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with the both sides of trade through negotiation, so as to United States. In the reports of reaction language, solve the problem of trade friction. The analysis of People’s Daily pays more attention to the expression China’s actions reflects China’s image as a respon- of Chinese officials and American people. Although sible big country taking full account of domestic and there are three main bodies, they all criticize the foreign influences and taking countermeasures. The arbitrary imposition of tariffs by American officials forenotice and analysis of China’s actions are closely and reflect on their negative effects. The main pur- followed by the contents of China’s action reports. It pose of these news reports is to expose the negative shows that People’s Daily has comments attached to effects brought about by Sino-US trade friction, with the reports from Chinese officials to explain the offi- the intention of gaining support and sympathy of the cial voice, show the position and attitude of the international community, and the trade friction with media, and play a correct role in guiding public the United States can be solved on the basis of equal opinion and analyzing the report theme framework consultation, which directly reflects the attitude of of People’s Daily. Chinese official. (2) People’s Daily focuses on the criticism and warning Report Schema Framework Analysis of the U.S. official tariff increase. There are 21 reports in this regard, accounting for 48.8% of the The middle structure of the report frame is the schema of the total reports, accounting for almost half of the total report. In the text discourse of news, the order of the text is reports. From this, it can be clearly seen that the determined by the news theme. The schematic structure of Chinese government toward the U.S. tariff increase the news reflects the order of the various elements of the holds an opposing attitude; the other half of the news news, and the news text formed from it can achieve the pur- reports suggest that China and the United States pose of emphasizing and highlighting the theme of the news. should strengthen communication and cooperation Van Dijk (1995) believes that the general meaning of dis- with dialogue, so as to end trade frictions on the course (macro-structure) usually has its own organizational premise of win-win cooperation and realize the nor- principles, and also needs some general syntax to limit the malization of economic and trade relations. possible forms in which topics are inserted or arranged in 8 SAGE Open Table 2. Percentage of Related News Report Schema Structure As can be seen from the above chart (Table 2), the spo- in the Total Text of People’s Daily.. ken response part accounts for the largest proportion in the schematic structure of People’s Daily, accounting for as Schema Percentage of total text much as 54.50% of the total text, reflecting a way of report- Main event 6.58 ing that emphasizes speech; the history part accounted for Previous events 2.35 0.17%, and the previous events and consequences also History 0.17 accounted for 6.14% (2.35% + 3.79%). It can be seen that Consequence 3.79 the schematic structure of People’s Daily’s report on Spoken response 54.50 Sino-US economic and trade frictions is incomplete. The Evaluation 6.95 schematic structure of People’s Daily presents the follow- Attribution 5.85 ing characteristics: (1) The spoken response occupies the most important actual text. Van Dijk (1995) divides the schema structure into position, and the subject of the spoken response is the following categories: title, introduction, main event, con- mainly Chinese officials. A large number of spoken sequence, environment, previous event, history, oral responses are added to guide the audience to under- response, prediction, and evaluation. stand China’s position and attitude on the Sino-US The analysis of news schema structure is consistent with economic and trade frictions, and promote the role the connotation of news framework theory. In Zang Guoren’s of public opinion guidance. In addition, the spoken frame structure hierarchy theory, the schematic structure of language response in People’s Daily is diversified, news is also used as the middle structure of the frame, which not only reflecting the opinions of Chinese officials, is divided into major events, previous events, history, results, focusing on expressing Chinese officials’ stand- impact, attribution, and evaluation. This section combines points, but also encompasses a large number of the analysis of Van Dijk’s (1998) schema structure with Zang Chinese and international experts and scholars’ anal- Guoren’s theory of the middle structure of the news frame, ysis of the cause and history of the event, the evalu- and divides the schema structure of this paper into seven cat- ation and prediction of the impact of the event, and egories according to the specific situation of the study. The the expression of the opinions of various subjects. specific schema structure categories are as follows: Economic issues in news reports are mainly ana- lyzed by quoting the views of economic experts and (1) Major events: Reports on the actions taken by the scholars. It is reasonable to comment on China’s Chinese side in handling the issue of trade frictions, trade behavior in news reports on the basis of and core events in dealing with Sino-US trade respecting the laws of market economy. At the same frictions. time, it is proved that the American groundless inter- (2) Previous events: Previous events with direct causal national economic and trade rules violate the eco- relationship with major events in the Sino-US trade nomic laws when provoking Sino-US economic and friction are reported. trade frictions. (3) History: Reports on the historical background and (2) In the main events part of the news report, the words historical events in the Sino-US trade friction. and deeds of the U.S. government in promoting the (4) Consequences: Speeches, actions, and consequences of escalation of Sino-US economic and trade frictions the conflicts between the parties in the Sino-US trade and conflicts are insufficient, and the reports on friction, including direct results and indirect effects. China’s defensive actions to safeguard China’s eco- (5) Oral response: Opinions expressed by relevant per- nomic and trade interests are emphasized. People’s sonnel on the Sino-US trade friction, including polit- Daily basically does not describe the way the U.S. ical figures, experts, scholars, and folk figures. provokes trade conflicts in the main events, but (6) Evaluation: News media’s assessment of relevant reports on the U.S. unilaterally provoking and esca- issues arising from the Sino-US trade friction, and lating economic and trade frictions, which are often expresses their views and attitudes. It mainly includes put in the previous events and oral reactions, and two aspects of evaluation and forecasting. Evaluation analyzed and exposed by relevant experts and schol- is to judge and summarize the meaning of news ars, but not as a special report of the main events. events; forecasting is to explain the possible impact The reports on the wrong words and deeds of the of news events and future development trends. U.S. side are mainly interspersed in the reports on (7) Attribution: Analysis of the causes of related events China’s behavior, stance, and attitude, so as to better of the Sino-US trade friction in news reports. explain China’s stance and policy. Linjing 9 Figure 3. Analysis of People’s Daily reporting tendency. (3) The structure is stylized and unitary. People’s Daily’s event + oral response” and its simple deformation reports on Sino-US economic and trade frictions account for about 63.43% (54.50% + 2.35% + 6.58%) often appear in fixed forms and pages. The basic of the total text. The schema structure of news schema structure of People’s Daily is “prior reports is single, with few changes, and slightly stiff events + major events + oral reactions” (some of writing style. which are transformed into “prior events + oral reac- tions”) for the actions of the United States unilater- ally imposing tariffs in violation of the consensus Report Tendency Analysis reached at the meeting between China and the United Based on the three evaluation indicators of positive report, States, The structure model generally takes the U.S. negative report, and neutral report, this article classifies and action of imposing tariffs as the prior event, and the sorts out the sample information of the website of People’s Chinese side responds, which shows that the oral Daily (www.people.com.cn). According to the attitude of response part overlaps with the main event part. The People’s Daily in selecting news reports, with nearly half of relevant news reports were interspersed with conse- the non emotional reports, People’s Daily objectively and quences and assessments, and the reports focused fairly reflects the truth of Sino-US economic and trade fric- on the response of Chinese officials to the Sino-US tions, shows the world the causes, process and development economic and trade frictions. This kind of structure process of Sino-US trade frictions, and demonstrates China’s accounted for about 10.74% (3.79% + 6.95%), and concept of peaceful development and shared development to its specific form was mainly to deliver news. In the world through fair and objective facts, which also fully addition, the relevant news reports in People’s demonstrates China’s hope for cooperation, consultation, Daily pay more attention to the interview reports on and equal dialogue to promote the resolution of Sino-US the impact of the U.S. tariff increase and the reports trade frictions and stimulate the wish of social and economic on the Chinese expert seminar. In the opening prosperity and development. part of the introduction, the structure of “previous events + major events + oral reaction” will be As can be seen from the above chart (Figure 3), there are adopted to briefly introduce the events of the meet- 18 reports about the U.S. side’s negative words and actions, ing, the main problems in the news and the attitude accounting for 41.9% of the total number, followed by neu- of the Chinese side. The following content is mainly tral reports on China’s words and actions, with 11 reports, based on expert opinions, in order to avoid the esca- accounting for 25.6% of the total. lation of direct conflict with the U.S. government in At the same time, the keywords expressed under different news reports. The structure of “previous event + main themes in People’s Daily were extracted for word frequency 10 SAGE Open Table 3. Topic Summary and Keyword Frequency Statistics for Different Trends. Category Topic Vocabulary Frequency Neutral reporting The expectations and efforts Negotiation（磋商）, hope（希望）, dialogue（通话） 40 involving both of China and the United parties (accounting States in the common for 3.6%) dialogue Positive reports The status Quo and prospects Cooperation（合作）, future（未来）, win-win 58 involving China of good cooperation result（共赢） (40%) between China and the U.S. civil and world economy China actively responds to Exclusion（排除）, response（应对）, solve（解决）, 131 the impact of economic and defend（捍卫）, full consideration（充分考虑）, trade frictions resolute（坚决）, persist（坚持） Positive(积极）, compelling(不得不), reasonable, advantageous and prudent（有理有利有节）, unwilling（不愿）, confident（信心） China’s stable and progressive Strong（强）, ability（能力）, toughness（韧性）, 236 economic strength maintenance（保持）, continuity（持续）, stability （稳定）, potential潜力 Development（发展）, growth（增长） increase（增 加）, enhancement（增强）, promote（推动） Innovation（创新）, openness（开放）, high-quality development（高质量发展）, advancement（推 进）, promotion（促进）, expansion（扩大）, diversification（多元化） China’s image of a responsible Commitment,（承诺）, stability（稳定）, fulfillment 22 and responsible country （履行）, maintenance（维护 ） Negative reports The negative impact of tariff Cause（导致）, damage（损害,破坏）, loss（损失）, involving the U.S. increases on the U.S. and the serious（严重）, problem（问题）, cost（代价）, (56.4%) world economy difficulty（困难）, uncertainty（不确定性）, decline （下降）, disadvantage（不利）, error（错误）, threat（威胁）, negative impact（负面影响）, risk （风险）, burden（负担）, consequence（后果）, harm （伤害,危害）, Imbalance（失衡）, shock （冲击）, drag（拖累） The U.S. proactively stirs up Escalation（升级）, provocation（挑起）, extreme 211 and escalates trade frictions pressure（极限施压）, violation（违背）, that violate morals and rules manipulation（操纵）, accusation（指责）, bullying （霸凌）, trampling（践踏） Unilateralism（单边主义）, rebellion（出尔反尔）, treachery（背信弃义）, lack of faith（言而无信）, trade protectionism（贸易保护主义）, hegemonism （霸权主义）, self-interest（利己）, recklessness （肆意）, unilateralism （单方面） Criticisms and oppositions Objection（反对）, criticism（批评）, worry（担忧）, 52 to U.S. Government raising dissatisfaction（不满）, disappointment（失望）, tariffs by local U.S. and other pain（痛苦）, worry（担心） countries analysis. According to the retrieval results of various tenden- was 40, accounting for 3.6%. From the above data analysis, tious words, the frequency of positive words related to it can be seen that People’s Daily is most concerned about the Chinese reports was 447, accounting for 40%; the frequency negative impact of the unilateral tariff increase of the United States on its domestic and world economy, and China’s eco- of using negative words in reports involving the United nomic strength to cope with the impact steadily. It has shaped States was 630, accounting for 56.4%; the frequency of neu- the image of the United States as an irresponsible country at tral words in reports involving China and the United States Linjing 11 the expense of others, and China’s image of a responsible big (3) People’s Daily’s position on Sino-US trade friction country firmly defending its own rights and international is consistent with that of the Chinese government. rules. In sharp contrast, the words used in the report are pre- Chinese media serve the Party, the state, and the cise and accurate, with distinct emotional color and firm people. As a major central newspaper, People’s stand. The subject and vocabulary retrieval frequency of 43 Daily must have its reports from the perspective of articles retrieved from People’s Daily are shown in Table 3. China’s national interests. The content of the report reflects the direction of national policies and the (1) When referring to China’s economic strength, Chinese government’s specific strategies and “strong”（强） and “development” （发展）are objective responses to Sino-US trade friction at the most frequently used words, reflecting China’s that time. strong confidence in its own economic foundation in the face of the crisis brought about by the U.S. side’s Brief Description of Research Results arbitrary tariff increase. In addition, “exclusion”（ 排除） and “response” （应对）are the most fre- From the above analysis, it can be seen that People’s Daily in quently used words in reflecting China’s positive the report on Sino-U.S. economic and trade frictions presents measures to impose tariffs, and emphasizing China’s a China-led protection framework for rights and interests. It countermeasures. The measures are “reasonable, attaches importance to conveying the Chinese government’s advantageous, and prudent”（有理有利有节）. position and policies on handling the U.S. tariff increase Taking countermeasures against the U.S. side is a issue, and explaining China’s rationality of systemic activi- forced, inevitable, and confident move. People’s ties. It has given the United States a firm and powerful boost Daily has also said that China is looking forward to to unilateral escalation of trade frictions and unprovoked the future, starting from the overall situation of accusations. The counterattack showed China’s firm deter- maintaining the stability of China and the United mination to maintain the healthy development of the coun- States and the world economy, emphasizing “coop- try’s economy. eration”（合作） and “hope”（希望） that China In terms of news structure (Ye, 2014), People’s Daily and the United States will actively engage in equal attaches great importance to spoken responses. The choice of and effective dialogue and create necessary condi- news content is biased toward China, and reports on the tions for the restoration of friendly cooperation. This United States do not pay attention to the voices of the U.S. is the sincerity and goodwill of the Chinese govern- official and U.S. media, but specifically go deep into some ment in solving the Sino-US trade friction issues, states and the folk. The choice of source of news is centered and also shows China’s trade cooperation. The prin- on sources from China’s official background. At the same cipled position and the bottom line of solving the time, it attaches great importance to the analysis of problems problem will play an important role in promoting the by experts and scholars. Social groups, the public, and for- settlement of Sino-US trade friction. eign news sources outside the United States account for a (2) In the negative reports concerning the U.S. side, small proportion of the reports. “cause”（导致）and “damage” （损害）are the As a mainstream newspaper of the Party Central most frequently used words. The U.S. tariff increase Committee (Liao, 2012), People’s Daily does not only give is contrary to the actual consequences, which is priority to positive propaganda, but also should have a cer- wrong and ineffective. At the same time, People’s tain amount of constructive and critical reports. Therefore, Daily used rigorous terms such as “trade protection- when carrying out positive publicity, People’s Daily is sup- ism”（贸易保护主义）, “hegemonism” （霸权主 posed to criticize the relevant people and things, so as to 义）and “unilateralism”（单边主义） to qualita- make news develop in a better direction to serve the people tively define the U.S. words and actions in an objec- and contribute to social construction. The development tive and detailed analysis, exposing concisely the direction of Sino-US trade frictions should get guidance to motives behind the U.S. escalating economic and promote the proper settlement of Sino-US trade frictions trade friction. In terms of criticism of the U.S. side, with more favorable measures, provide basic models and there are strong negative emotional words such as examples for all countries in the world to fairly and truly “worry”（担忧）, “dissatisfaction”（不满）, “dis- solve trade conflicts, better promote the benign development appointment”（失望）, and “pain”（痛苦）. To and prosperity of the world economy, achieve mutual benefit sum up, People’s Daily has sternly criticized and and win-win results, share the fruits of world economic warned the United States in various ways. development, and benefit human society. 12 SAGE Open Appendix. The Classification of 43 Retrieval Samples According to the Main Event Categories and News Sources. Main event categories of news Analysis of news news News headlines reports sources Newspaper layout The 12th Round of Sino-US High-Level Economic and Positive Report on China’s Chinese Official August 1, 3rd Page Trade Consultation Held in Shanghai Words and Deeds All Walks of Life in the United States Strongly Oppose Negative Reports on American American Folk August 3, 3rd Page the Government’s New Round of Measures to Tax Words and Deeds China: “Expanding the Scope of Taxation will only Make the Problem Worse.” If the U.S. side Imposes Tariffs, China Will Have to Negative Reports on American Chinese Official August 3, 3rd Page Take Necessary Countermeasures, and All the Words and Deeds Consequences Will be Borne by the U.S. Side The U.S. Side Plans to Impose a 10% Tariff on US Positive Report on China’s U.S. Official August 3, 3rd Page $300 Billion of Chinese Goods Exported to the U.S. Words and Deeds China strongly Opposes it and will Take Necessary Measures to Firmly Defend its own Interests The Federation of German Industries Criticizes the Negative Reports on American International Society August 5, 3rd Page New U.S. Threat of Imposing Tariffs on China Words and Deeds Relevant Chinese Enterprises Suspend New U.S. China’s Neutral Report Chinese Official August 6, 3rd Page Agricultural Products Procurement The United States Accuses Me of not Buying Positive Report on China’s Chinese Official August 6, 3rd Page Agricultural Products and Lacks Factual Basis Words and Deeds Seminar Held by National Institute of Development and A Comparative Report on the Chinese Experts and August 6, 3rd Page Strategy, Renmin University of China Positive and Negative Aspects Scholars of Chinese and American Words and Deeds People in the U.S. Economic and Trade Circles Negative Reports on American American Experts and August 7, 3rd Page Criticized the Government’s Trade Policy Toward Words and Deeds Scholars China: “Imposing Tariffs Will Only Reduce the U.S. Competitiveness.” A Foreign Ministry Spokesman Answered a Reporter’s China’s Neutral Report Chinese Official August 7, 3rd Page Question on the Suspension of New U.S. Agricultural Products Procurement by Chinese Enterprises Foreign Media and Experts Criticized the U.S. Extreme Negative Reports on American International Society August 9, 3rd Page Pressure Tactics: “It is Unreasonable and Rude to Words and Deeds Impose Tariffs Arbitrarily.” American Media Warn that Wrong Trade Policy will Negative Reports on American American Media August 10, 3rd Page Lead to American Economic Recession Words and Deeds Seminar on Evaluating the Development Trend of A Comparative Report on the Chinese experts and August 10, 3rd Page Sino-US Relations Held by China Institute of Modern Positive and Negative Aspects scholars International Relations of Chinese and American Words and Deeds American Experts and Scholars Criticized the Negative Reports on American American experts and August 12, 3rd Page Government for Upgrading the Economic and Trade Words and Deeds scholars Friction with China “The Interests of American Enterprises and Consumers are Being Damaged” Call between Leaders of Sino-US High-Level Economic Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese Official August 14, 3rd Page and Trade Consultation Report “Local Cooperation Between the United States and A Comparative Report on the American Folk August 16, 3rd Page China Is Hard to Stop” Positive and Negative Aspects of Chinese and American Words and Deeds The Person in Charge of the Tariff Commission of the A Comparative Report on the Chinese Official August 16, 3rd Page State Council Delivered a Speech Positive and Negative Aspects of Chinese and American Words and Deeds At the Seminar on Sino-US Economic and Trade Issues Negative reports on American Chinese folk August 17, 3rd Page Held by the China Academy of International Studies, Words and Deeds Experts Agreed that the Irresponsible Approach of the U.S. Side is Bound to Fail (continued) Linjing 13 Appendix. (continued) Main event categories of news Analysis of news news News headlines reports sources Newspaper layout The Tariff Commission of the State Council Announced A Comparative Report on the U.S .official August 24, 3rd Page that It Decided to Impose Additional Tariffs on about Positive and Negative Aspects 75 Billion U.S. dollars of Imported Goods Originating of Chinese and American in the United States Words and Deeds The Tariff Commission of the State Council has China’s Neutral Report Chinese official August 24, 3rd Page Announced that it has Decided to Resume the Imposition of Additional Tariffs on Automobiles and Parts Originating in the United States Experts’ Interpretation of China’s Counter Measures: China’s Neutral Report Chinese experts and August 24, 3rd Page Defending the Multilateral Trade System and its scholars Legitimate Rights and Interests All Walks of Life in the United States Strongly Oppose Negative Reports on American American folk August 25, Page 3 Raising the Tariff Rate on Chinese Goods Exported Words and Deeds to the United States: “The Escalation of Economic and Trade Frictions Will Only Bring More Pain to the United States.” A Spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce Made a Negative Reports on American Chinese official August 25, Page 3 Statement on the Announcement by the U.S. Side to Words and Deeds Further Increase the Tariff Rate on Chinese Goods Exported to the U.S. The Institute of International Trade and Economic A Comparative Report on the Chinese experts and August 26, Page 3 Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce Held an Positive and Negative Aspects scholars Expert Seminar on Sino-US Economic and Trade of Chinese and American Relations Words and Deeds It’s “a Huge Mistake” to Curb China’s Development: Negative Reports on American American experts and August 26, Page 3 A Visit to Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Columbia Words and Deeds scholars University The United States has Seriously Damaged the World Negative reports on American International society August 27, Page 3 Economy and International Trade Order Words and Deeds “This is Actually a Tax Increase on U.S. Enterprises and Negative Reports on American American Folk August 27, Page 3 Consumers”: U.S. Businessmen Strongly Oppose the Words and Deeds U.S. Tariff Increase Experts Attending the Seminar on Sino-US Economic Negative Reports on American Chinese experts and August 28, Page 3 and Trade Issues Said That the United States’ Blatant Words and Deeds scholars Violation of International Rules is Unpopular The United States Has Fallen into a Huge “Credibility Negative Reports on American American Folk August 28, Page 3 Gap”: Interview with Professor Oberstfeld of the Words and Deeds University of California, Berkeley Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Holds an Expert China’s Neutral Report Chinese experts and August 29, Page 3 Seminar scholars “We Don’t Want to be the Victim of Economic and Negative Reports on American American folk August 29, Page 3 Trade Frictions”: Interview with Marchius, Director Words and Deeds of American bicycle Suppliers Association The Relevant Head of the State Council Tariff Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese official August 30, Page 3 Commission Office Asked Reporters about the Report Imposition of Tariffs on Some Imported Goods Originating in the United States “American Shoemaking Industry cannot be Decoupled Negative Reports on American American Folk August 30, Page 3 from China” Words and Deeds Seminar Held by Institute of International Law, Wuhan A Comparative Report on the Chinese experts and August 31, Page 3 University: Mutual Benefit and Win-Win is the Choice Positive and Negative Aspects scholars to Conform to the Trend of the Times of Chinese and American Words and Deeds “Arbitrariness is Driving up the Cost of the U.S. Negative Reports on American American folk August 31, Page 3 Economy” Words and Deeds According to a Survey Conducted by Members of the China’s Neutral Report U.S. Official September 1, Page 3 National Committee on Sino-US Trade, 97% of the U.S. Enterprises Interviewed are Profitable in China, and Nearly 90% of the U.S. Enterprises Interviewed are Unwilling to Move Their Business out of China (continued) 14 SAGE Open Appendix. (continued) Main event categories of news Analysis of news news News headlines reports sources Newspaper layout Call Between Leaders of China US High -Level Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese official September 6, Page 3 Economic and Trade Consultation Report The Tariff Commission of the State Council Announced China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 12, the First Exclusion List of the First Batch of Goods Page 3 Subject to Additional Tariffs on the United States “Exclusion List” Reduces Pressure for Enterprises China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 12, Page 3 Sino-US Entrepreneur Dialogue Held in Beijing China’s Neutral Report Chinese Folk September 12, Page 3 China Imposes Tariff Exclusion on New U.S. China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 14, Agricultural Products Procurement Page 3 Vice Ministerial-Level Consultation on Sino-US Trade Sino-US Common Neutral Chinese Official September 22, and Economic Cooperation Held in Washington Report Page 3 China has Made a Positive Response to the U.S. Side’s China’s Neutral Report Chinese official September 25, Release of the List of Tariff Exclusion Page 3 Acknowledgments References I would first like to thank my paper advisor Xin Bin of School of Ball, M. 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The portrayal of China and the United States in triangular relationship among mass media, official informa- each other’s major media: A comparative analysis of the tion sources and social movements. Sanmin Publishing House. people’s Dailyand the New York Times reported in 1998. Ye, Q. (2014). Construction of China’s image by mainstream media American Studies, 3, 38–43. in the Philippines from frame theory (pp. 28–36). Guangxi Zhang, K. (2005). National image dissemination (pp. 51–56). University. Fudan University Press.

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SAGE Open – SAGE

Published: Mar 23, 2022

Keywords: Sino-US trade friction; People’s Daily; theoretical framework; news sources; media

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