L'Espace Politique (Dec 2023)
Guerre en Ukraine : évolution et adaptation des discours médiatiques en Chine
Abstract
From the outset of the conflict, discourses on the war in Ukraine have become a political arena for Chinese diplomacy and Beijing's discursive power in the world. In developing its official discourse on the conflict, Beijing has had to calibrate its communications to different external and internal factors and mobilize different strategies to promote them. Certainly linked to Russia after many years of economic and political rapprochement with Moscow, the Chinese government had to define a position. How has the Chinese discourse sought to preserve its Russian partner, knowing that there is no formal alliance between Moscow and Beijing and that economic relations between China and the West are stronger than with Russia? This article uses a qualitative approach and analyzes the evolution of Chinese media discourse by conducting a qualitative study of the publications of two Chinese newspapers, the Huanqiu Shibao and the Caixin Zhoukan, as well as by analyzing the publications of Chinese Internet users and experts on the microblogging site Weibo. The analysis highlights the notable evolution of Chinese official discourse on the war in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. This evolution reflects both Beijing's determination to preserve its neutrality in order to reduce the impact of the crisis on its own geopolitical ambitions and economic prospects, and the change in the international context surrounding the war following its escalation in space and time.
