Media diplomacy in the South China Sea disputes: Vietnam, China and the Philippines 2012 – 2016
type: CreativeWork
description: After shelving tensions for development until the 2000s, the South China Sea (SCS) issue re-emerged with three notable crises: the Scarborough Shoal dispute, the oil rig crisis and the SCS arbitration case. During the period of the crises (2012 – 2016), although the claimant states avoided conflicts at sea, they changed the status quo pertaining to the control and the nature of some of the maritime features in the disputed zone. More importantly, public perceptions about the SCS issues, especially the crises, have been re- shaped as tensions occurred, due to the battle in the media between the disputants. In order words, the SCS issue became more complicated, not only because of the overlapping claims of the disputants, but also due to the conflicting media narratives of the claimant states. This situation raises questions as to how, what and why these claimant states released media narratives about the crises, and a need to inquire into the impact of these conflicting narratives on the SCS issues. Correspondingly, a significant area for research inquiry emerged, which provided the rationale for the current study. This study is timely, significant and relevant to the states directly concerned as well as regional states. It uses a complex method including critical discourse analysis, framing and theme creating to collect media reports, and deployed the theoretical framework of media diplomacy to analyse the media tactics of the three claimant states, China, the Philippines and Vietnam, at the time of these three crises. According to Gilboa (2001), media diplomacy occurs when a government sends its diplomatic messages to its target audiences through speeches, press conferences, interviews, visits, media events, or even leaks. To succeed, the government needs to have the ability to predict how its message will be consumed by different stakeholders and how its target audiences are likely to respond. It was hypothesised that the governments in China, Vietnam and the Phil…
abstract: After shelving tensions for development until the 2000s, the South China Sea (SCS) issue re-emerged with three notable crises: the Scarborough Shoal dispute, the oil rig crisis and the SCS arbitration case. During the period of the crises (2012 – 2016), although the claimant states avoided conflicts at sea, they changed the status quo pertaining to the control and the nature of some of the maritime features in the disputed zone. More importantly, public perceptions about the SCS issues, especially the crises, have been re- shaped as tensions occurred, due to the battle in the media between the disputants. In order words, the SCS issue became more complicated, not only because of the overlapping claims of the disputants, but also due to the conflicting media narratives of the claimant states. This situation raises questions as to how, what and why these claimant states released media narratives about the crises, and a need to inquire into the impact of these conflicting narratives on the SCS issues. Correspondingly, a significant area for research inquiry emerged, which provided the rationale for the current study. This study is timely, significant and relevant to the states directly concerned as well as regional states. It uses a complex method including critical discourse analysis, framing and theme creating to collect media reports, and deployed the theoretical framework of media diplomacy to analyse the media tactics of the three claimant states, China, the Philippines and Vietnam, at the time of these three crises. According to Gilboa (2001), media diplomacy occurs when a government sends its diplomatic messages to its target audiences through speeches, press conferences, interviews, visits, media events, or even leaks. To succeed, the government needs to have the ability to predict how its message will be consumed by different stakeholders and how its target audiences are likely to respond. It was hypothesised that the governments in China, Vietnam and the Phil…
author: Le, Thi My Danh
keywords: Media diplomacy, South China Sea, Vietnam, China, the Philippines
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/9bfbfef8-c669-4d71-bb56-3a22f89feafa/download
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:21Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato