The arrival of Donald Trump on the global political stage, has significantly changed how other countries regard the US. One country where this is especially true is China. This thesis therefore...Show moreThe arrival of Donald Trump on the global political stage, has significantly changed how other countries regard the US. One country where this is especially true is China. This thesis therefore analyzed three different Chinese newspapers on their discourse regarding the US in the period between the latter part of the 2016 US elections and the first few months of Trump’s presidency. Special focus is paid to how the discourse of the newspapers relates to China. Generally, the newspapers treated the presidency of Trump, as well as his election, as symptoms of a greater US decline. Apart from US decline, there was also special emphasis in the newspapers on China’s importance as a great power. Overall, there was a big difference in reporting between the two state-owned newspapers and the one private-owned newspaper. These difference were mostly related to the focus of the articles and a relatively large shift in tone of the articles. The official newspapers changed their reporting on the US drastically in later reporting, as well as China’s relationship with the US. These changes betray a lack of coherent strategy in regards to China’s view of itself as a great power and its relationship with the US.Show less
