| Abstract [eng] |
J.M. Kelerienė. \"Communication of the Threats of China in the US in Public and Official Discourses\" / Master's Degree in International Policy and Economics. Guide: Lecturer Ben Brunal. – Vilnius: Mykolas Romeris University, Faculty of Public Administration, Institute of Political Science, 2018. At the end of the Cold War, the United States has become a hegemon of the world when the main competitor – the Soviet Union has disappeared. However, in the 21st century another serious competitor of the US appear – China that began to rise in economic and political power. In this way, China has become a serious opponent of the US Worldwide Power Contest. China's rising economic power has also affected the emerging sphere of influence in the world. As the economy grew, its technologies were also improving rapidly. The world has increasingly started to escalate China as a cyber-enemy, which absorbs technological innovation without leaving borders of its own country. The world is also disappointed of China's ongoing to the wrong humanity direction, the production of opiates and their export to the entire world, violations of human rights and freedoms and international law. The media censorship is an ideal plan for correcting citizens' opinions - propaganda persuasion. But the same the world is fascinated to China by the loyalty and responsibility of their citizens, cuisine, and culture and the ability to quickly and smartly stand up after economic recession. China is perceived as a twofold country. Looking from a diplomatic and democratic perspective, everyone sees China's negative sides, and when analysed from a cultural perspective, the positive side of China is visible. This multi-faceted state is compared to a global power that cannot be competed by any member of the international system. However, the United States is bracing itself in front of Revisionist China and, after announcing its economic warfare, expects to mitigate its desire for hegemony. But the world is worried about the outcome and consequences of this situation, so it's important to watch how the Chinese image is treated in public and official US discourses. Having identified the Chinese threat image in US national security discourses after the subject of the master's thesis, the research problem was investigated. In the official discourse of the United States, there was a balance between China as a partner and China as a threat. US politicians avoided threatening China, but this situation is changing rapidly. Meanwhile, in the media, China's equivalence as a threat to the US national security was much more frequent and unavoidable. Thus, a different assessment in the official and public discourses of the United States regarding China is problematic. It prompts questions: what are the reasons US leaders are placing China at a less dangerous position and why has this position changed? The answer to these questions will be 117 analysed in the study. It is assumed that the Chinese image discourse is constructed depending on the head of state and his foreign policy. By analysing aspects of threat theory directly related to national state security and socio-political integrity, theoretical access is being constructed, which allows us to investigate the images of the threat of China in US national security discourses. This part of the work uses descriptive-analytical, quantitative and qualitative content and comparative analysis, KDA and linguistic analysis method. After performing extremely detailed quantitative and qualitative, comparative, and KDA analysis, the conclusion came that the public and official discourses of the USA in the respect of China may change. It depends on at that time presidential domestic and foreign policies. However, the discourses created by the government and the press are not always the same, but the results of the last (2018) survey years, both in public and in the official discourse, coincide – China is becoming a threat to national security in the United States. Master's thesis consists of two parts. The first part of the work has the conceptualization of the phenomenon of threats to national security, and the determination of the threat as a subordination of power. In addition, China's identified threats and the nature of its power in international politics is determined. In the empirical (the second) part, a study was conducted to identify the threat by the image of China to the US public and official discourse. Data from official and public discourses were compared. |
