In China, more and more security cameras on the streets are equipped with facial recognition technology. This artificial intelligent technology can identify a person immediately. Some fear for a...Show moreIn China, more and more security cameras on the streets are equipped with facial recognition technology. This artificial intelligent technology can identify a person immediately. Some fear for a great scale breach of privacy. This thesis discusses how the Chinese government conveys the message to the people that it is using this facial recognition technology. By conducting a discourse analysis, Chinese state-media Xinhua.net articles are analyzed. Mainly, this thesis shows that there is hardly any mention of privacy breach by using this technology in the articles. Second, it shows that local instead of national initiatives of facial recognition technology use are discussed to a larger extent.Show less
This thesis analyses newspaper articles from two state-led newspapers of the PRC regarding the phone-call between the president of the US, Donald Trump, and president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, on...Show moreThis thesis analyses newspaper articles from two state-led newspapers of the PRC regarding the phone-call between the president of the US, Donald Trump, and president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, on December 2, 2016. This phone call suggested a possible attempt by the US to undermine the One-China policy, an essential part of China’s international relations. This thesis links the outcomes of the discourse analysis with the literature review, which explains the importance of discourse in international relations and the construction of a national identity. The analysis mainly focuses on three discourse topics and discursive strategies (intertextuality, language and pictures) of the newspaper articles. Both parts concentrate on the different identity manoeuvres which construct a notion of China’s national identity. Analysing the different articles showed that this phone call was an unexpected and an unacceptable event for the PRC. The discourse regarding China’s military power occurs quite strong in the period after the phone call. With regard to the construction of national identity, concluded is that the newspaper articles construct an identity of China which is ‘unassailable’ for any changes from external actors in Sino-U.S. or cross-strait relations. The position of Taiwan in China’s identity is constructed in a conflicting way by the articles. Language features often identify Taiwan as the ‘other’, which excludes Taiwan from China’s identity. However, when speaking about Sino-U.S. relations, Taiwan is included in China’s identity.Show less
It has been five years since Xi Jinping introduced the concept of ‘Chinese Dream’ and it is still a hot topic, also online. While some scholars regarded this new concept of the Chinese Dream as a...Show moreIt has been five years since Xi Jinping introduced the concept of ‘Chinese Dream’ and it is still a hot topic, also online. While some scholars regarded this new concept of the Chinese Dream as a positive development for China, others considered it as a rather strategic narrative of the CCP to influence the image of China domestically and international (Boc, 2015; Callahan, 2015; Mahoney, 2013; Lu, 2015; Wang, 2016). However, most academic researches concluded that the concept ‘Chinese Dream’ is rather vague and does not imply for who it is meant (Li, 2015). As bloggers are also a part of the ‘citizen intellectuals’ that can reshape the future of China, I analyzed the blogposts of common users on the microblogging platform Sina Weibo and how they perceive this concept (Callahan, 2013; Gleiss, 2015). This thesis concludes that even though the government gives space to talk about the Chinese Dream, the narrative online is still lead by the Chinese government rhetoric.Show less
