A Study On The Discourse Power Of The Philippines On The South China Sea Issue

The current academic research on discourse power has mostly focused on the major countries,and lacks attention to the discourse power of small countries.This study focuses on the problem of how small countries with inferior comprehensive national power can effectively express their will in the international arena and influence those major countries whose power far exceeds them.Based on the core concept of " discourse priority " and the hierarchy of authority,this paper will analyze the reasons of Philippines' discourse dominance over China in the South China Sea by the concept "discourse priority" and the hierarchy of authority to summarize the underlying logic that small countries dare and can provoke big countries.In terms of this,this paper will analyze the reasons of Philippines' discourse dominance over China in the South China Sea by the concept "discourse priority" and the hierarchy of authority to summarize the underlying logic that small countries dare and can provoke big countries.The paper suggests that the small state's ability to ride on the coattails of the great power's discourse priority is the root cause of the small state's dominance in the discourse struggle with the bigger power.In the hierarchy of discourse authority,small countries reach a "consensus" with large countries and use the powerful "discourse priority" of large countries to suppress the discourse of countries far more powerful than themselves.The continuation of the discursive advantage of small countries depends to a large extent on whether the "consensus" between the two sides can be maintained.In the case of the Philippines' two provocations against China in the South China Sea,for example,there is no legal basis for the Philippines' sovereignty claim in the Mischief Reef case,and because of its limited strength and lack of international support,the Philippines has neither the legitimacy of international discourse rights nor international discourse influence.In the Huangyan Island incident,the U.S.and the Philippines shifted their foreign policy to reach a consensus,and the Philippines,as a vassal state,was able to use the U.S."discourse priority resources" to form an absolute discourse advantage over China,making the Chinese side's international discourse weak and facing a serious passive discourse dilemma.The discussion of the issue of small countries' extraordinary discourse power is conducive to summing up the experience of enhancing national international discourse influence.In the process of improving discourse power,it is not enough to expand the influence of discourse only by optimizing one's own discourse expression and building a platform for discourse voice.In the unbalanced discourse confrontation,disputes can be used as a grip to find national positioning in the international context,and actively seek the support of "third-party" forces to avoid being "hounded" in the regional context,and only "self-talk".The government should avoid the unfavorable situation of being "hounded" in the region and only being able to "speak for itself",and create a good environment for international discourse.