Indian Media Reports On The Belt And Road Initiative

In 2013,Chinese President Xi proposed a cooperative initiative to build a "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and a "21st Century Maritime Silk Road",referred to it as"the Belt and Road".This initiative has aroused great attention from all over the world.Most American media have taken a critical attitude toward this initiative.As an important neighbor of China,India has had a "dragon elephant battle" since ancient times.China-India relations also occupy an important position in foreign relations,and they are the backbone of stabilizing the Asia-Pacific region.The Indian media is more concerned about the Belt and Road Initiative.How does the mainstream Indian media report the Belt and Road Initiative?What is the difference between the frameworks of different media reports?What is the cause of this difference?This article attempts to answer the above questions.Times of India,Indian Express and the Hindu are three influential English newspapers in India.It is generally believed that Times of India is an "anti-China newspaper",it usually represents the right-wing forces of India;Indian Express is freedom and detachment.It has always advocated a calm view of Sino-Indian relations and has been vigilant against China.The overall position is center-right;the Hindu is a "pro-China newspaper",representing the interests of left-wing parties.Therefore,the study of these three English-language newspapers can basically reflect the attitude of Indian English newspapers on the Belt and Road Initiative.This study uses framework theory to analyze from basic statistics,the structure of the report,the tendency of the report and so on,therefore,it is possible to analyze the combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the three media.The study found that between September 1,2013 and December 1,2018,this three media gave full coverage to the Belt and Road Initiative,covering political,economic,diplomatic,military and other areas of the report,among which the more prominent issues are Territorial sovereignty,views on the Belt and Road Initiative,infrastructure construction,etc.The three media coverage frameworks on issues such as free trade,AIIB,and strengthening bilateral ties are relatively close,sovereignty issues such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.Infrastructure construction,military and other issues have presented different reporting frameworks.Times of India is biased toward criticism.It adopts the framework of "conflict and negation"and has a more obvious anti-China stance.Indian Express uses the competition and challenge framework to analyze the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative from a macro and strategic perspective,stressing the warnings and competitive attitudes of the Belt and Road Initiative;The Hindu reported that it was more peaceful and adopted a cooperation framework to promote cooperation and win-win between China and India.In general,this three English-language newspapers have more critical reports than affirmative reports,especially in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Doklam confrontation.The study believes that the formation of the above framework is related to the national interests,political environment,market positioning and media itself of this three newspapers.