Acomparative Analysisof Defense Strategies Inthe2019china’sand Malaysia’s National Defense White Papersfromthe Perspectiveof International Ecological Discourse

A national defense white paper is a document or report used to introduce national defense policies,strategies,national defense,and military construction,etc.,which is formulated and published under the auspices of a country’s defense ministry,government or head of state.In recent years,scholars at home and abroad have mainly compared the strategic connotations of national defense white papers of major world powers and studied the translation strategies of China’s national defense white papers from the perspective of political science.However,studies related to Southeast Asian countries have not been further developed.Malaysia is the hub of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" in the "Belt and Road" initiative,which is of great strategic importance.Therefore,a comparison of the China’s and Malaysia’s national defense white papers would be beneficial to a comprehensive understanding and assessment of the content,characteristics,and defense perspective of Malaysia’s defense strategy,and to promote ecological harmony between China and Malaysia,as well as to maintain the strategic balance of the international defense ecosystem.The texts of this study are the 2019 edition of the national defense white paper from the official websites of the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Defense of Malaysia,both in English,respectively.From the perspective of ecological discourse,this study analyzes the linguistic features of the Chinese and Malaysian white papers with the transitivity analysis framework of international ecological discourse,and tries to decipher the similarities and differences between the defense strategies of China and Malaysia.Comparative analysis shows that the China’s and Malaysia’s national defense white paper texts have similarities in terms of transitivity process,participant role and discourse pattern,but demonstrate differences in terms of national defense strategies.(1)In terms of process types,both countries’ national defense white papers have the highest percentage of the action process,with the relational process in second place and the mental process in third place.The large number of action processes reflects the fact that both governments emphasize the need for all members of society to participate in the formulation of defense policy and the building of defense forces.However,mental processes play a different role.The Malaysian government employs the mental processes to express its concern about domestic and foreign security threats and its expectation of strengthening the country’s defense capability,while the Chinese government makes use of the mental processes to express its unwavering commitment to follow the path of peaceful development and makes its own contribution to the world’s development.Although both governments use the relational process to describe the country’s security as requiring the participation of all members of society,the difference is that Malaysia is very concerned about other countries’ military operations on Malaysia’s defense security while China believes that it shares national security and development with the rest of the world.The communicative processes outline the different attitudes adopted by the two governments in the face of international disputes.Some existential processes re-emphasize the existence of an unstable external environment in both texts.(2)In terms of participant roles,life participants appear less frequently than lifeless participants in both white papers,reflecting the importance that both governments attach to the overall evolution of the international situation and defense exchanges and cooperation with other countries at different levels.It is worth noting that the Malaysian government focuses on the Southeast Asian region while the Chinese government focuses on social lifeless participants in a global context,reflecting the different defense strategies and international ecological views of the two countries.(3)In terms of discourse patterns,the frequency of neutral discourse is in the first place,reflecting the efforts of both governments to describe the objective facts and present the construction of defense and military forces and their contributions to the international community.The frequency of beneficial discourse is relatively higher than that of destructive discourse,reflecting the positive image of both governments and militaries actively participating in peacekeeping operations and contributing to the maintenance of strategic stability in the region and the world.Through a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences in the processes,participant roles,and discourse patterns of the China’s and Malaysia’s national defense white papers,this study finds that the connotations of defense strategies conveyed in the China’s and Malaysia’s national defense white papers are generally in line with the international ecological concept of "diversity and harmony,interaction and co-existence".However,while Malaysia’s defense strategy focuses on regional ecological stability in Southeast Asia,China’s defense strategy pursues a balanced international strategic landscape at a broader level.This provides supporting evidence for understanding the defense policies and strategies of China and Malaysia,and provides useful references for promoting exchanges and cooperation in defense and culture between China and Malaysia.Meanwhile,this study expects to provide some insights for international and regional studies based on linguistic theory.