De-risking or De-sinicization?: A study of strategic narratives in the People's Daily's definition and use of the term "de-risking"
2026 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
As governments around the world are increasingly focused on economic security and geoeconomics many new policy terms have become salient in policy debates. This thesis has studied de-risking, a term that first emerged in the context of the EU's economic relationship with China, but has since been criticised as vague and taken on many different interpretations. While previous scholarship has compared G7 countries' divergent and convergent definitions of de-risking there has, outside of the think tank world, been a lack of academic studies on China's interpretations of the concept. As different actors fill the term with diverse meanings the term has the potential to serve as a discursive platform for narratives. Contributing to research on China's interpretations of foreign concepts and China's use of strategic narratives, this thesis has investigated the People's Daily, which previous research highlights as an important projector of narratives from the Chinese Communist Party's leadership, potential use of strategic narratives in its definitions and use of the de-risking term, focusing on Chinese language articles and therefore to a larger extent on domestic audience oriented narratives. Employing qualitative content analysis, constructing a framework based on strategic narrative theory and a selection of 35 articles in the People's Daily, seven different strategic narratives are identified, with the majority of articles featuring primarily policy narratives. These seven narratives are the BRI narrative, the de-sinicization narrative and the international market economy narrative (policy), the deglobalisation narrative and the gang rule narrative (system), the risk narrative and the international community narrative (identity). While the scope of this study is limited to one state media platform and a smaller selection of articles, indications that a policy term that originated in the EU can potentially be used strategically in a domestic context by the Chinese state media is an important starting point for further research.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2026. , p. 51
Keywords [en]
Strategic narratives, Qualitative Content Analysis, China, People's Daily, de-risking
National Category
Languages and Literature
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-577920OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-577920DiVA, id: diva2:2033297
Subject / course
Chinese
Educational program
Freestanding course
Supervisors
Examiners
2026-01-282026-01-282026-01-28Bibliographically approved