Framing China's rise in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3697604 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David M Mccourt (0000-0001-6946-6173, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 97 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 643-665 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-10 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ia/iiab009 |
| OpenAlex | W3138676706 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
Optimism about China's rise has in recent years given way to deep concern in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Drawing on an original set of interviews with China experts from each country, and an array of primary and secondary sources, I show that shifting framings of China's rise reflect the dynamics of the US, Australian and UK national security fields. The article highlights three features specifically: first, the US field features a belief that China's rise can be arrested or prevented, absent in Australia and the UK. I root this dynamic in the system of professional appointments and the intense US 'marketplace of ideas', which gives rise to intense framing contestation and occasional sharp frame change. I then identify the key positions produced by each field, from which key actors have shaped the differing interpretations of China and its meaning. The election of Donald Trump, a strong China-critic, to the US presidency empowered key individuals across government who shifted the predominant framing of China from potential challenger to current threat. The smaller and more centralized fields in Australia and Britain feature fewer and less intense China-sceptical voices; responses have thereby remained largely pragmatic, despite worsening diplomatic relations in each case
China · Foreign policy · Framing (construction) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Skepticism · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · History · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law
The Transitive Construction of China’s National Image in the Editorials of The New York Times
Why Sinoscepticism will Remake British Politics
Between economic openness and strategic caution
Worsening British views of China in 2020
British economic strategy and regional institutions in Asia, 2016–2024
The Great Covid Paper Wall
The Empire Has No Clothes? The UK, the Indo-Pacific ‘Tilt’, and Bargaining Towards a Southeast Asian Role
America’s “China-First” grand strategy and the transatlantic bargain
The Illusion of the China-US-Europe Strategic Triangle
Images of China in the Australian press
| Citations per year | 2.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |