A frame analysis of political-media discourse on the Belt and Road Initiative: evidence from China, Australia, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States

The article seeks to unpack the increasingly polarised discussion on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provide a holistic understanding of it by identifying diverging interpretations in form frames analysing competing framing practices actors figuring prominently debate. To that end, this study leverages conceptual insights from cultural content-analyses purpose-built corpus political media communications BRI gathered China, India, US, Japan, UK Australia. It first identifies, reconstructs juxtaposes 14 culturally-embedded along five dimensions: China’s intensions (Ploy, Zero-sum game, Equality), BRI’s implications for other countries (Bane, Lopsided, Boon), compliance with high standards (Below par, Qualified yes, Up par), outcomes (Bumpy ride, Catchall, Off bang), linkage past (Old wine new bottles, Historical legacy). A subsequent deductive analysis, lines frames, sheds light core claims constituting discursive legitimation BRI, salient difference between Chinese officials foreign political-media elites, continuity or change position taken governments their justifications, increasing critical coverage elite media.