China opportunity or China threat? A corpus-based study of China’s image in Australian news discourse

Bibliographic Data

ID12347141
AuthorsChangpeng Huan (0000-0002-9178-9996, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume34
Issue5
Pages808-825
Publication date2023-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Semiotics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-0330 • E-ISSN: 1470-1219
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10350330.2023.2196716
OpenAlexW4362575592
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited59

Australia has increasingly dependent on China for economic prosperity, but the formidable resources China has brought in its engagement with Australia have been discursively constructed as a threat. Past studies have observed a conventional and often oversimplified binary perception of China–Australia relations (i.e. China opportunity or China threat). Premised on corpus evidences concerning the representation of China in Australian media discourses from 2009 to 2019, this article has shown China threat is considerably more complex than previously observed. China was not only constructed as a security threat but also an economic threat. Australian media contemporary imaginaries of China threat were related to continued fears of “Yellow Peril” and “Red Peril”, which spread from the US and reinforced Australia’s tendency to dependency. There is a danger of China threat dominating public perceptions of China, drifting into populism of offering simplistic solutions to complex issues

China · Development economics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Prosperity · Representation (politics · Sociology · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law · Media Studies and Communication

Tools

Open DOI