The "Chinese Way" Of Diplomacy Towards International Crises:A Cultural Discourse Study Of The Syrian Case

The Chinese diplomacy towards international crises,which has been one of the key tasks that China faces today,is essentially a practice of contemporary Chinese discourse.Of those hot issues in the world,the Syrian crisis is undoubtedly the most important case.In its diplomatic process,China gradually produced and put forward the theory of the "Chinese Way",as a typical diplomatic discourse of China,which has actually risen to be an exemplary model for other international crises in general.Given the irrational and illogical criticism,especially the so called "free rider" theory,articulated against China by the West,the "Chinese Way" discourse deserves a thorough study of both its theory and practice,so as to meet the challenges from the West.In that case,the Chinese diplomatic discourse study,locally grounded and globally minded,should be an effective approach to such a task.Based on that,this study will try to probe into the "Chinese Way" for its discursive features,theoretic foundations and cultural values involved,and in the mean time create an image of a cultural China.This dissertation takes as its theoretic foundation Cultural Discourse Studies and absorbs ideas from communication studies,other schools of discourse studies and so on.It puts forward the "Acting Data-Backing Data-Contextual Data" approach for data collection and analysis and details a particular set of analytic methods.It tries to integrate the holistic and detailed examinations of the discourse.In its major effort,the study looks chronologically through the whole process where the "Chinese Way"is formed while handling the Syrian Crisis,in a series analysis of the speaker,the listener,the speech content,the way of speaking and even its discursive effect.But it also studies two particular events during the crisis and a detailed examination of the discursive "route" in a process of lexicalization through which the "Chinese Way" is formed.For the close examination the study puts forward the concept of"discourse-setting" as a mechanism where the discourse is to take place instead of the often applied "agenda-setting",and proves the value of it.The study unfolds to us a discursive picture of the "Chinese Way" towards the Syrian Crisis.With evidences it denies the imposed name of "free rider" for China and describes how China has actually been engaged in the crisis management,only in its own way.Together,an image of peace-loving and just-pursuing country is created for China.However,the"Chinese Way" was not formed in one day but in the period of Chinese diplomatic discourse since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis till the the term was officially uttered.The discourse,moreover,embodies characteristics of progression,exploration,evolution,demonstration,contribution and Chinese culture.In cultural representation,in particular,it presents some traditional traits of Chinese values and views of history,conflict,word-deed relationship,besides the world view and the view of the international relations.In this world where international crises diversify and China-West power differences reduce,the "Chinese Way" faces such opportunities as to be tested in its increasing process of crisis management in the future,to make its own contributions to the world peace and also to improve China's own image in the international diplomatic arena.While,on the other hand,it need not be neglected that the "Chinese Way" still has a long way to go in terms of theoretic construction,communicative effect and application in practice.