| Abstract [eng] |
The Master thesis examines what narratives about Lithuania PRC constructed in official and media discourse intended for a foreign audience (from March 1, 2021, to April 1, 2023) after Lithuania began to interact closely with Taiwan and what is the didactic nature of these narratives. During the research, content analysis, combined with narrative analysis and framing model, was carried out. The paper analyzed 629 texts: statements by the PRC Foreign Minister and press representatives from the Chinese MFA, as well as their messages on Twitter. The study also analyzed articles from five major PRC media outlets: Xinhua, People's Daily, CGTN, China Daily, and Global Times. The relevance of the paper stems from the fact that Lithuania's actions are unprecedented and forced PRC to take unprecedented countermeasures. The problem of the study follows from the fact that the opening of the Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius caused great tension between Vilnius and Beijing. So, the paper seeks to find what narratives China is constructing about Lithuania and how the aim of PRC's foreign policy to punish Lithuania and convince other foreign countries not to follow Lithuania's example is projected through such narratives. The following tasks will help to achieve the work goal: 1. Define how the constructivism could explain the construction of PRC narratives about Lithuania; 2. Based on the analysis of narratives and the theory of framing according to the model of H. Semetko and P. M. Valkenburg, perform a content analysis of the PRC official and media discourse intended for foreign audiences; 3. Inductively distinguish the constructed narratives and prepare their comparative analysis, assessing the didactic aspect of the narratives; 4. Present conclusions and recommendations for future research. PRC developed three narratives about Lithuania: The narrative of Lithuania as a rogue state is being constructed to emphasize Lithuania's political actions, which are contrary to the norms of international relations and highlight that if any country decides to cooperate more closely with Taiwan, it can look to Lithuania as an example of what awaits after breaking China's rules. The narrative of Lithuania as a puppet of the US highlights the interference of the US in China's domestic politics using Lithuania as a political tool. It emphasizes that cooperation with the US will bring extremely painful consequences. The narrative of Lithuania as evil is constructed by switching to saying that not Lithuania's actions, but Lithuania itself, is an evil state per se. In this way, PRC actively attacks Lithuania's human rights situation to damage Lithuania's reputation. The study also revealed that: a) the same narratives are constructed in both PRC official and media discourse; b) PRC's constructed narratives about Lithuania are intended to support China's identity as a great power and to discourage others from following Lithuania's example; c) the plausible deniability is noticeable; d) visual aids are used to enhance the persuasiveness of narratives; e) the construction of narratives became more active during certain political moments; f) PRC emphasizes historical grievances and past humiliation from the West. This study is noteworthy for its in-depth analysis of the Lithuania-PRC bilateral relations after Lithuania decided to cooperate more closely with Taiwan which has received limited attention in academic research so far. Future studies might consider including the analysis of the PRC academic discourse. It would also be meaningful to continue the analysis in the future to see if the narratives identified within this study persist. Finally, it would also be significant to observe what narratives PRC constructs about other countries that have recently begun to interact more closely with Taiwan and see if there are any connections with the narratives constructed about Lithuania. |
