CHAPTER 4. RESULTS
4.7 HOW BRI FRAMES CHANGE WITH TIME
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Table 4-31 shows the five most mentioned figures in BRI articles from The Straits Times. Foreign leaders such as Xi Jinping and Donald Trump are the top two mentioned figures, suggesting that Singapore pays much attention to the actions of and relations with China and the US. Singapore national leader Lee Hsien Loong is at third. Teo Chee Hean, a high-level Singaporean official, has been the representative of Singapore government in BRI related events.
Table 4-31 Five most featured figures in BRI articles of Singapore.
Rank Singapore
1 Xi (674)
2 Trump (387)
3 Lee (Hsien Loong) (182) 4 Li (Keqiang) (122) 5 Teo (Chee Hean) (102)
4.7 How BRI frames change with time 4.7.1 Malaysia
RQ7 wishes to understand how four BRI frames changes in Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media. The following section will first introduce the trend of frames of Malaysia. Statistics for each country are recorded with when the first beneficial or concern frame appears.
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Figure 4-2 shows that in Malaysia, the economic incentive frame first climbs up in September 2016 due to the Melaka Gateway project of BRI. It peaks at at the BRI forum in 2017, but later slows down in May 2018 when Mahathir won the election and vowed to review Chinese projects, including the ECRL. The economic concern frame appears during the BRI forum, and remains at a low level afterwards. It climbs up in July 2018 as the concern of debt burdern builds up.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Oct Nov Dec 2016 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2017 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2018 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Economic Incentive Economic Concern
Figure 4-2 Distribution of economic incentive and concern frames through time in Malaysian press
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Nov Dec 2016 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2017 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2018 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Political Stable Political Threat
Figure 4-3 Distribution of political stability and threat frames through time in Malaysian press
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Figure 4-3 shows that political stability frame increases because of the BRI forum in 2017 and cooperation agreement between Najib’s administration and China, but decreases in December 2017, when the opposition party started to accuse Najib of selling Malaysian lands to China. Political stability frame climbs up again when Mahathir says he still welcomes Chinese investments and during his visit to China in August 2018.
4.7.2 Republic of Philippines
In the Philippines, economic incentive frame increases when officials from both countries met and deals were made. However, the economic concern frame gradually increases after January 2018 due to the issues of debt along BRI countries.
0 5 10 15 20 25
2015 Mar
May Jul Sep Nov 2016 Jan
Mar May Jul Sep Nov 2017 Jan
Mar May Jul Sep Nov 2018 Jan
Mar May Jul
Economic Incentive Economic Concern
Figure 4-4 Distribution of economic incentive and concern frames through time in Philippine press
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Among the three countries, the Philippines has similar amount of political stability and political threat as the most prominent frame. Political threat frame appears more frequently than the other two countries and it matches the level of political stability frame in May 2017. Although the number of political stability frame increases due to Duterte’s visit to China in April 2018, it drops afterwards as more negative examples of other BRI countries surface.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
2015 Sep
Nov 2016 Jan
Mar May Jul Sep Nov 2017 Jan
Mar May Jul Sep Nov 2018 Jan
Mar May Jul
Political Stability Political Threat
Figure 4-5 Distribution of political stability and threat frames through time in Philippine press
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4.7.3 Republic of Singapore
Figure 4-6 shows the economic incentive and concern frames in Singapore.
Compared to Malaysia and the Philippines, economic incentive frame in Singapore appears in most months. The number of economic incentive frame is higher than economic concern frame in almost any month instead of May 2018, which is when Mahathir became the newly-elected Malaysia resident, and when China’s debt diplomacy was reported.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
2015 Dec 2016 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2017 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2018 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Economic Incentive Economic Concern
Figure 4-6 Distribution of economic incentive and concern frames through time in the Straits Times
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Figure 4-7 displays that the amount of political stability and threat as prominent frame is fewer than economic frames, suggesting the political perspective on BRI is paid less attention. What is special for Singapore is that political threat is more often higher than the political stability frame. In January 2018, several news analysis on China’s dominance in buying foreign assets and regional affairs with Japan lift up the number of political threat frame. To sum up, economic concern and political threat frames do not decrease but increase due to the reporting of negative result of BRI and the revealing of China’s strategic intention, according to the concern meta-frame.