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Framing the Boundary of Sino-Japanese Conflicts in China’s Communication Sphere: a Content Analysis of the News Coverage of Japan and Sino-Japanese Controversies by the People’s Daily between 2001 and 2015

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Abstract

This study provides a longitudinal analysis of the news coverage on Japan and Sino-Japanese relations between 2001 and 2015 by China’s most influential official media, the People’s Daily, by drawing upon framing theory. The results of the content analysis demonstrated that most of the time the People’s Daily did not disseminate anti-Japanese content as around 70% of the article frames were not related to conflict between China and Japan. Furthermore, the People’s Daily framed the boundary of Sino-Japanese conflicts within the political arena while portraying other fields of bilateral relations as benign and cooperative. In addition to framing Sino-Japanese conflicts as politically oriented rather than full-scale, more importantly, the People’s Daily narrowed down the bilateral conflicts to an either-or choice between historical disagreements or controversies over contemporary interests, rather than a combination of these situations. This reduction suggested that the People’s Daily, as the dominant actor of framing Japan in China’s political communication space, attempted to de-radicalize the antagonistic sentiments towards Japan and stabilize Sino-Japanese relations.

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Notes

  1. See the People’s Daily, 21/10/2005

  2. See the People’s Daily, 24/06/2005

  3. See the People’s Daily, 18/10/2005

  4. See the People’s Daily, 06/07/2006

  5. See the People’s Daily, 07/01/2004

  6. See the People’s Daily, 23/05/2006

  7. See the People’s Daily, 14/02/2006

  8. See the People’s Daily, 12/05/2006

  9. See the People’s Daily, 07/02/2006

  10. See the People’s Daily, 26/05/2005

  11. See the People’s Daily, 25/07/2006

  12. See the People’s Daily, 21/08/2006

  13. See the People’s Daily, 12/04/2005, 08/10/2005

  14. See the People’s Daily, 08/07/2004; 14/04/2005; 10/03/2006

  15. See the People’s Daily, 05/07/2006

  16. See the People’s Daily, 02/10/2010

  17. See the People’s Daily, 13/10/2010

  18. See the People’s Daily, 26/10/2010

  19. See the People’s Daily, 17/01/2012

  20. See the People’s Daily, 17/03/2012

  21. See the People’s Daily, 14/03/2013; 15/08/2013; 16/08/2013

  22. See the People’s Daily, 03/02/2014, 27/04/2014, 07/08/2014

  23. See the People’s Daily, 08/10/2006

  24. See the People’s Daily, 14/02/2014

  25. See the People’s Daily, 21/01/2014

  26. See the People’s Daily, 10/01/2014

  27. See the People’s Daily, 02/01/2014

  28. See the People’s Daily, 09/09/2014

  29. See the People’s Daily, 07/07/2014, 15/08/2014, 12/12/2014

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Parkville, 3010, Australia

    Tianru Guan

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Correspondence to Tianru Guan.

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Guan, T. Framing the Boundary of Sino-Japanese Conflicts in China’s Communication Sphere: a Content Analysis of the News Coverage of Japan and Sino-Japanese Controversies by the People’s Daily between 2001 and 2015. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 23, 603–618 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-018-9528-9

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