 |
customer@davidpublishing.com |
 |
3275638434 |
 |
 |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
SHAO Baohui, LIANG Chenyue, BA Ziyi
Full-Text PDF
XML 209 Views
DOI:10.17265/2160-6579/2026.01.005
Hebei University, Baoding, China
This study takes Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to China in November 2024 as its starting point to examine how Malaysia’s largest Chinese-language newspaper, Sin Chew Daily, framed China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the 10 months following the visit. The trip coincided with the 50th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations and marked Anwar’s second visit to China that year. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative content analysis (n = 512 articles) with qualitative framing analysis, the study identifies how the newspaper constructed a predominantly positive and government-aligned narrative of the BRI within Malaysia’s multicultural media environment. Results show a strong emphasis on the economic cooperation frame (67.2%) and a consistently favorable reporting tone (76.6%), accompanied by a heavy reliance on government and elite sources (69.9%). Critical or risk-oriented frames were marginal (2.0%). Situated within theories of media framing and Asian media systems, the findings suggest that Sin Chew Daily’s coverage reflects both the commercial-economic interests of its Chinese-Malaysian readership and Malaysia’s broader political communication norms, which encourage alignment with state foreign policy. The study argues that the newspaper’s narrative construction reinforces a narrow range of perspectives on the BRI by privileging official discourses while marginalizing public voices and critical viewpoints. This contributes to understanding how ethnic-language media in Southeast Asia participate in nation-level foreign policy communication and how China-Malaysia media cooperation may shape reporting on cross-border initiatives. The article concludes by outlining implications for media pluralism and recommending comparative research across Malaysia’s multilingual press ecosystem.
Belt and Road Initiative, Sin Chew Daily, framing analysis, Chinese-language media, Malaysia
Altuntaş, E. Y. (2025). Perception and framing geopolitical realities. Media Representation and Public Perception of War, p. 283.
Anunne, U. K., Thuy, P. P., Yan, J. Y., & Lifeng, Y. (2019). Framing analysis of Belt and Road Initiative coverage in major Nigerian, Malaysian, and Vietnamese newspapers. Eur. Sci. J. ESJ, 15(29), 1-20.
Bahoo, S., & Alon, I. (2020). News framing of the China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A media analysis. Nordic Journal of Media Management, 1(4), 495-525.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58.
George, C., & Venkiteswaran, G. (2019). Media and power in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gitlin, T. (1980). The whole world is watching: Mass media in the making & unmaking of the New Left. Oakland: University of California Press.
Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (Eds.). (2011). Comparing media systems beyond the Western world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huang, M. H., & Chu, Y. H. (2015). The sway of geopolitics, economic interdependence and cultural identity: Why are some Asians more favorable toward China’s rise than others? Journal of Contemporary China, 24(93), 421-441.
Jan, I., Mehmood, T., & Hussain, S. (2018). American, Indian and Chinese media on “Belt and Road Initiative”. Global Social Sciences Review, III(IV), 31-48.
Jiang, Y. (2022). Framing the Belt and Road Initiative in Australian newspaper journalism from 2013 to 2020: From lukewarm acceptance to outright hostility. American Communication Journal, 24(1), 1-16.
Kuik, C. C. (2021). Asymmetry and authority: Theorizing Southeast Asian responses to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Asian Perspective, 45(2), 255-276.
Lai Fong, Y., & Ahmad Ishak, S. (2015). Gatekeeping in the coverage of interethnic conflicts: An analysis of mainstream and alternative newspapers in Malaysia. SEARCH: The Journal of the South East Asia Research Centre for Communication and Humanities, 7(1), 2.
Li, X., & Chu, J. (2025). High-quality Belt and Road joint interview between People’s Daily and Malaysian media: A case of China-Malaysia media cooperation. People’s Daily.
Lim, K. Y., & Luan, N. M. (2009). Chinese newspapers, ethnic identity and the state: The case of Malaysia. In Media and the Chinese diaspora (pp. 151-163). London: Routledge.
Liu, H., & Lim, G. (2020). The political economy of a rising China in Southeast Asia: Malaysia’s response to the Belt and Road Initiative. In China’s new global strategy (pp. 158-173). London: Routledge.
Luan, N. M., & Beng, L. Y. (2018). Malaysian Chinese language newspapers and national identity: A study of the roles of sin chew daily in Chinese cultural preservation and nation building. Kajian Malaysia, 36(1), 63-103.
Nain, Z., & Kim, W. L. (2004). Ownership, control and the Malaysian media. In Who owns the media (pp. 249-270). Penang: Southbound.
Ren, N. (2021). Transnational networks and institutional embeddedness: Reengagement of the new generation of Malaysian Chinese entrepreneurs with China. Asian Journal of Social Science, 49(4), 215-224.
Repnikova, M. (2018). Media politics under Xi: Shifts and continuities. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 38(2), 55-67.
Scheufele, D. A., & Tewksbury, D. (2007). Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 9-20.
Semetko, H. A., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2000). Framing European politics: A content analysis of press and television news. Journal of Communication, 50(2), 93-109.
Shoemaker, P. J., Vos, T. P., & Reese, S. D. (2009). Journalist as gatekeepers. In K. Wahl-jorgensen and T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 73-87). New York: Routledge.
Teo, P., & Xu, H. (2023). A comparative analysis of Chinese and American newspaper reports on China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Journalism Practice, 17(6), 1268-1287.
Turcsanyi, R., & Kachlikova, E. (2020). The BRI and China’s soft power in Europe: Why Chinese narratives (initially) won. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 49(1), 58-81.
Wang, D., & Liang, S. (2024). Discourse construction of Chinese modernization from the perspective of Malaysian media. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-12.
Wang, C., Mohamed, N., & Hashim, G. R. (2024). China-Malaysia relations and the Belt and Road Initiative: An analysis based on Constructivist Theory. Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal, 9(SI22), 37-41.
Yang, H., & Van Gorp, B. (2023). A frame analysis of political-media discourse on the Belt and Road Initiative: Evidence from China, Australia, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 36(5), 625-651.
Yu, H. (2016). Motivation behind China’s “One Belt, One Road” Initiatives and Establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Journal of Contemporary China, 26(105), 353-368.
Zhang, R. (2024). How ASEAN and Western media covers China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A case study of representation of the Laos-China railway under international news flows framework. Media Asia, 51(3), 398-419.