Taiwan, China and Central American Allies: A Discourse Analysis of the Costa Rican Diplomatic Shift News Coverage Diplomatic Shift News Coverage

台灣與中國之中美洲結盟競爭－－以哥斯達黎加外交轉向之媒體報導分析為例

本研究檢視2007 年6 月哥斯達黎加與台灣斷交並轉而與中國建交時，中美洲三個報紙的新聞報導對此事的論述及看法。哥斯大黎加在2007 年的外交轉向被視為台灣在拉丁美洲外交情勢的轉折點，在同一地區其他與台灣建交的七個中美洲友邦（多明尼加、尼加拉瓜、薩爾瓦多、宏都拉斯、巴拿馬、貝里斯），於當時被認為將會以哥斯大黎加的外交轉向為可參考模式，而產生與台灣斷交的可能風險。因此在中美洲地區新聞的呈現中，「哥斯大黎加外交轉向的過程如何形成？」，以及「外交轉向中各方行動者所扮演的角色及如何被描寫？」成為本研究了解拉丁美洲輿論與一般大眾以其拉丁美洲價值對此外交事務的看法。本研究以論述分析方法，並借用Allan Bell 所發展的新聞論述結構模式分析三篇相關新聞發現，哥斯大黎加的外交轉向被當時的拉丁美洲媒體以負面形象描寫。事件其中以哥、中兩國產生協議的政治理由及情況最受批評：中國以其強大經濟力量之姿受到不尊重人權並只在國際間追求自身利益的負面評價，哥斯大黎加的外交轉向則是純粹為了經濟目的而放棄其所宣揚的人道主義。台灣在此事件中主要被描寫為外交轉向結果的承受者，但也因為其金援外交政策而受部份指責。

This present study examines the news coverage of the Costa Rican diplomatic shift from Taipei towards Beijing in June 2007. The event represented a turning point for the Latin American nation, as well as for the region in which other seven countries had strategic diplomatic alliance with Taiwan. Costa Rica was the first country to recognize Beijing and represented a potential risk for Taipei as other Central American allies might follow the same road. Drawing from Discourse Analysis, as well as Allan Bell's news discourse structure model, three articles have been chosen and extensively analyzed. The research questions are “How is the process of the Costa Rica's diplomatic shift framed?” and “What is the portrayed image of the actors concerned by the diplomatic shift?” The findings show that the Costa Rican diplomatic shift was negatively portrayed in the articles. The political reasons and circumstances carried out under the agreement between Costa Rica and China were particularly criticized. Taiwan was mostly portrayed as bearing the consequences and partially accused of deploying the so-called checkbook diplomacy. Furthermore, China was considered as an economic strong force with no respect for human rights and followed only its own interests, while Costa Rica was regarded as abandoning its humanitarian advocacy for pure economic purposes.