The National Image Of The United States And China In The Traditional Japanese Media

In early 2017,when Trump took office,he announced that the United States would withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement,and then the United States provoked a trade war with China.This series of measures will inevitably have a great impact on the global economic and the strategic layout of various countries.Among them,Japan,which has close ties with China and the United States in economic,political and cultural aspects,should be paid more attention.China's refusal to recognize the South China Sea arbitration results has aroused Japan's vigilance against China's "overseas expansion",while the United States' self-protection in trade and delegation of responsibility in military security will undoubtedly increase Japan's pressure on China's handling.Considering that the media coverage of a country can not only reflect the changes of policies and diplomacy among the three countries at the macro level,but also show people's emotional attitudes towards other countries at the micro and meso levels.In order to provide some reference for the research and decision-making of China's image communication in Japan and other countries,as well as for the political communication considerations of Japan-US alliance,Japan-US relations and Sino-US relations,this paper explores how Japanese media perceive China and the United States before and after Trump came to power.This study collects the reports of Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun covering China and the United States from 2016 to 2018.Sampling,coding,data analysis and text analysis show that the United States and China presented in Yomiuri Shimbun are both political and military powers with considerable influence in the world.The United States is not only the protector of Japan's national security,but also a bully who squeezes Japan.China is a neighbouring country threatened by "expansion",it is also a "former friend" who Japan has to win over when Japan wants to seek independent diplomacy and reduce its dependence on the United States.This study holds that macro-level factors such as inter-country interaction,short-term or long-term measurement of national interests,as well as micro-level factors such as selection of editing,issue focus and attitude tendency,will affect the framework construction of the media when reporting news,thus affecting the final image of China and the United States presented by Japanese media.