The Study On Adjustment And Construction Of Diplomatic Discourse In China-ASEAN Relations

Ever since ancient times, China has greatly influenced the neighboring countries, and thosecountries in southeast Asian next to southern China are of no exception. China always attaches importance to the relations with southeast Asian countries. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the relationship between China and both Southeast Asian countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has experienced a tortuous development process. Throughout the development process, great developments can be seen not only in the aspects of political, economic, security, society, culture, education, but also clearly reflected through the evolution of the diplomatic discourse.Language is closely related to international relation, it not only describes and reflects its history and present, but also construct it in a social or political way for certain purposes. In addition to the material side, diplomatic discourse dominance is also a field for competition. Fundamentally, the "reality" of international relations is dependent on the social and cultural construction of language practice. In this sense, the power of discourse owned by certain country decide the extent of social meaning that a country can exert on the reality and results of international politics. The symbolic system which is dominated by language is not only a form of international political power, but also the main source of it. Anyone who wants to focus on China-ASEAN relations cannot ignore the relationship between discourse factors in the process of development.Under the guidance of the theory of constructivism, this paper will combine, the interpersonal function of language within the theory of systemic functional grammar and the concept of identity of constructivism together, adopt the method of discourse analysis to analyze the diplomatic discourse between China and the Asian nations’from the perspectives of society, culture and history, study the construction of diplomatic discourse and mutual shaping between China-ASEAN relations and diplomatic discourse, and explore the function of diplomatic discourse in the process. In accordance with the characteristics of the development of relations between China and ASEAN, the evolution of diplomatic discourse can be divided into five stages. The first stage is from 1949 to 1978. Due to the factors of Cold War, as well as the traditional sensitivity of sovereignty and territorial issues, China’s will to protect the neighboring small countries, and the "hundred years of humiliation" left by the invasion by western powers and Japan, China carries strong nationalism. The diplomatic discourse of China and ASEAN greatly reflects a revolutionary feature. It causes huge anxiety to the southeast Asian countries.But with the development of China’s foreign diplomacy, diplomatic discourse that caused anxiety in ASEAN countries is eased latter part of this stage, thus making the relationship between the two sides changed. The second stage is from 1979 to 1990, with the feature of limited contact between China and ASEAN. China started the reform and opening up to the outside world. During this period, to safeguard China’s national interest and create a good external environment to serve the internal economic development, China makes great efforts to eliminate the anxiety of ASEAN nations towards China. China held the same position in the issue of Vietnam’s invasion against Cambodia with ASEAN and the characteristics of the diplomatic discourse embodied "anti-hegemony". This has received the good effects and improve China-ASEAN relationship. The third stage is from 1991 to 1999, in order to confront the external and internal challenges and continue to create a stable external environment, China participated in the regional mechanism dominated by ASEAN, and became its dialogue partner. The diplomatic discourse of this stage embodied in China emphasizes on "building trust" and expressesto ASEAN her goodwill. Besides, China showed great responsibility in coping with the southeast Asia financial crisis and won the confidence from the ASEAN countries. The fourth stage is from 2000 to 2011, in which relations between China and ASEAN enters the best stage. With the tremendous improvement of China international status and position and the growing influence of moral factors, China mainly advocates "peace" and "harmony" in diplomatic discourse, aiming to eliminate the doubts of the international society and ASEAN nations as well. The signing of "Declaration of Conduct for the South China Sea" and "Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia" between China and ASEAN basically eliminates the suspicion of ASEAN towards China. In the fifth stage since 2012, due to the intervention of external power in the South China Sea and the growth of China’s national strength, China proposes "China-ASEAN Community of Common Destiny" initiative, actively promote Sino-ASEAN relationship to a deeper and more comprehensive development. The development of the South China Sea issue needs China to construct a new discourse system to cope with the challenges. During this period, the ASEAN’s suspicion of China increases, which needs China to further strengthen the cooperation with ASEAN to promote the political and security cooperation between China and ASEAN.By combing and analyzing the diplomatic discourse between China and ASEAN, the following conclusions can be drawn:first, through the study of diplomatic discourse between China and ASEAN, the development of bilateral relations can be grasped, using language as a carrier to record the reality of international relations. Based on the research of the diplomatic discourse, we will be able to represent the new international relations; Secondly, language has the interpersonal function. When extended to the national level, it can help to establish and maintain good relationships between nations, expressing the national identity, status, attitude, motivation function. In the process of interaction between China and ASEAN, discourse helps the two sides to promote understanding, reach consensus, dispel misgivings, construct rules and norms, announce policies, express sincerity and enable legitimate action etc. Finally, the diplomatic discourse rebuilt the relation between China and ASEAN. They live by and mutually construct each other. China should improve diplomatic discourse in the following aspects to. Firstly, eliminate inappropriate diplomatic words in order to improve the acceptance of diplomatic discourse; Secondly, improve the diplomatic discourse words and behavior matching degree to promote its credibility; Thirdly, improve the diplomatic discourse expression to increase the degree of understanding.