英文摘要 |
"Following the sharp rise of China's comprehensive state power, scholars generally believe that China's self-identification has shifted from ''developing country'' to ''great power.'' Some scholars argue that this is akin to a paradigm shift. Others disagree, believing that China mingles the two identification labels. What really is China's self-identification label(s)? In what different context does China use these labels? These are two questions the authors try to answer in this article. We first construct a database from the daily briefings of the Spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the State Council of the People's Republic of China during the period of from 2001~2019. We then apply the Computer-Assisted Content Analysis method to analyze data and build topic models. Our main findings are as follows: (1) we empirically verify the coexistence of two self-identifications: developing country and great power; (2) we are able to locate the main characteristics of two self-identifications; (3) we are able to observe the timing and situations where China uses different identification labels. The implication for this research is that we are now much better equipped to make an estimation on where and when China will use different identification labels, and in turn make reasonable responses. We also believe that since China can demonstrate different identification labels with reasonable flexibility, we have good reasons to believe that the use and coexistence of two self-identifications will continue in the foreseeable future." |