A Critical Discourse Analysis Of U.S. Treasury Reports On China's Economic And Exchange Rate Policy

With rapid domestic economic development and active participation in international communication and cooperation, China has been gradually becoming a focus of attention in the international community. China's economic and social achievements since the beginning of reform and opening are unprecedented in global history. As China is growing to a major economy, the western countries, especially the United States, watch closely the enormous changes China is undergoing. Though both China and the United States have recognized that the deepening of trade and economic cooperation is beneficial to both countries and the rest of the world, China's economic development and general ascension in the world have, understandably, created much uncertainty for the world's single superpower, the United States.China's exchange rate has long been a core issue between China and U.S. This thesis chooses four Treasury reports to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies in the year of 2005 and 2006 to conduct an analysis in CDA approach.Firstly, the theory of CDA is introduced, including the concept of CDA, the development of CDA theories in the past decades both home and abroad.Then the Treasury reports are analyzed at three levels-the textual level, the level of discursive practice and the level of social practice. Through lexical choices, overlexicalization, modality choice, and choices in discourse representation, the thesis tries to identify and decode the ideologies embedded in the reports.Finally the author of this thesis draws the conclusion that the Treasury reports on China's economic and exchange rate policies are by no means value-free. China's economic and exchange rate policies are presented as a distortion and threat, antagonistic to the interests of its neighbors, of the United States and of the international community.