Discourse Analysis of Xinhua News Agency’s Social Media Content: A Review of Xinhua’s Reporting Perspectives of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

The use of digital media has gone through a major transition in China in the last decade. To study how China’s major official media outlet, Xinhua News Agency, interacts with social media, this paper examines the measures Xinhua has taken to promote the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through digital channels. As an important part of the Chinese diplomacy, on the one hand, the Belt and Road Initiative shows Chinese leadership is calling for a proactive role in international relations; on the other hand, its establishment has caused contentions in the international media sphere. Based on Foucault’s approach on discourse, this paper examines the Chinese state media’s handling of the case on social media platforms Twitter and Sina Weibo in both the Chinese and English languages.