Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A critical discourse analysis of Chinese and Vietnamese online media coverage of the east sea dispute

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN ĐẶNG MAI LINH

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE

ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE EAST SEA DISPUTE

Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán trên các bài báo điện tử của Việt Nam và

Trung Quốc đưa tin về tranh chấp trên biển Đông

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60220201

HANOI, 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN ĐẶNG MAI LINH

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE

ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE EAST SEA DISPUTE

Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán trên các bài báo điện tử của Việt Nam và

Trung Quốc đưa tin về tranh chấp trên biển Đông

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI, 2017

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE

EAST SEA DISPUTE” is the result of my own study. It was conducted with

scientific guidance of Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân.

The data and conclusions of the study presented in the thesis have never been

published in any form.

Post-graduate student

Nguyễn Đặng Mai Linh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not be fulfilled without the help of many people, and I would like

to show my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taught me, inspired me,

challenged me, and supported me throughout the realization of this thesis.

I would like to express my deep gratitude towards my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Hoàng

Văn Vân, for his constant and invaluable assistance without which my study would

be far from finished.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lecturers and

staffs at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, the University of Languages and

International Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi whose support and

consideration have enabled me to pursue the course.

Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my beloved family and my close friends

for their love, encouragement, and support while I was conducting this research.

Hanoi, April 2017

Nguyễn Đặng Mai Linh

ABSTRACT

This study is a critical discourse analysis of Chinese and Vietnamese online media

coverage of the East Sea dispute from May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014. A critical

discourse analysis was made to delineate the contrasting representations of China

and Vietnam. With the purpose of discerning the underlying ideologies of the

reporters, Fairclough‟s CDA framework and Halliday‟s systemic-functional theory

were used to analyze the news reports. The study just focused on some linguistic

features of the text. In terms of lexical choice, only overwording was analyzed.

Then with respect to grammatical analysis, transitivity was scrutinized. The

researcher made an attempt to illustrate the relationship between language, ideology

and political stance. The findings showed that the underlying ideologies hidden in

the news discourse revolved around “us” and “them” side. The online media

coverage of both China and Vietnam intended to present the positive self-

representation while disparaging the other-representation. In other words, their own

country was depicted in favorable light as a rational, peace-loving, law-abiding

country. Meanwhile, the opponent was portrayed as an aggressor who acted brashly,

illegally in the law-based community.

iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation

Meaning

A Actor

Att Attribute

C China

Car Carrier

E Existent

G Goal

Id Identified

In Initiator

Ir Identifier

O Other parties

P Phenomenon

Pb Behavioral process

Pm Material process

Pmen Mental process

Pr Relational process

Pv Verbal process

Px Existential process

S Sayer

Sen Senser

T Target

V Vietnam

Ver Verbiage

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Interpretation stage ...............................................................................10

Figure 2: Explanation stage .................................................................................11

Figure 3: The distribution of processes in Vietnamese news and Chinese news ...19

Figure 4: The distribution of Actors in the material processes..............................21

Figure 5: The distribution of Goals in the material processes ...............................23

Figure 6: The distribution of Sayers in the verbal processes.................................25

Figure 7: The distribution of the relational processes ...........................................28

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1:The main themes in Vietnamese online news coverage ............................. 33

Table 2:The main themes in Chinese online news coverage .................................. 33

Table 3: The frequency of inter-related words to sovereignty in Vietnamese online

news coverage ....................................................................................................... 35

Table 4: The frequency of inter-related words to sovereignty in Chinese online news

coverage ................................................................................................................ 35

Table 5: The frequency of inter-related words to China‟s legal operation in Chinese

online news coverage ............................................................................................. 37

Table 6: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam‟s disruptive activities in

Chinese online news coverage ............................................................................... 38

Table 7: The frequency of inter-related words to China‟s illegal operation and

disruptive activities in Vietnamese online news coverage ...................................... 39

Table 8: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam‟s legal operation and

defense in Vietnamese online news coverage ........................................................ 40

Table 9: The frequency of inter-related words expressing viewpoints on Vietnam‟s

activities in Chinese online news coverage ............................................................ 40

Table 10: The frequency of inter-related words expressing viewpoints on China‟s

activities in Vietnamese online news coverage ...................................................... 41

Table 11: The frequency of inter-related words to China‟s peaceful measures and

strategies in Chinese online news coverage ........................................................... 42

Table 12: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam‟s peaceful measures and

strategies in Vietnamese online news coverage ...................................................... 42

Table 13: The frequency of inter-related words to international law and act in

Chinese online news coverage ............................................................................... 43

Table 14: The frequency of inter-related words to international law and act in

Vietnamese online news coverage ......................................................................... 44

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ...................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................................iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. iv

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. v

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1

Rationale of the research ............................................................................ 1 1.

Scope of the research .................................................................................. 2 2.

3. Aim and objectives of the research ............................................................. 2

Significance of the research ........................................................................ 3 4.

Research methodology ............................................................................... 3 5.

6. Design of the research ................................................................................ 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................... 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................. 5

1.1. An overview of CDA ................................................................................. 5

1.1.1. The definitions of CDA .................................................................... 5

1.1.2. Principles of CDA ............................................................................ 6

1.1.3. CDA‟s approaches ............................................................................ 7

1.2. Fairclough‟s three-dimension framework of CDA ...................................... 9

1.3. Halliday‟s systemic functional approach and CDA ................................... 11

1.4. Transitivity ............................................................................................... 12

1.5. Overview of related studies ...................................................................... 14

vii

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES ............ 17

2.1. The background to the event ..................................................................... 17

2.2. Data collection ......................................................................................... 17

2.3. Research method ...................................................................................... 19

2.4. Data analysis procedure ............................................................................ 19

CHAPTER 3: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ONLINE NEWS

ABOUT THE EAST SEA DISPUTE .................................................................... 20

3.1. Transitivity analysis ................................................................................. 20

3.1.1. Material process ............................................................................. 22

3.1.2. Verbal process ................................................................................ 25

3.1.3. Relational process........................................................................... 29

3.2. Overwording ............................................................................................ 33

PART C: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 45

1. A summary of the findings ........................................................................ 45

2. Limitation and recommendation for further studies .................................. 48

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 49

APPENDICES......................................................................................................... I

APPENDIX 1: THE 10-QUESTIONS MODEL OF THE DESCRIPTION

STAGE (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001:92-93) ............................................................... I

APPENDIX 2: CHINESE NEWS REPORTS ....................................................... II

APPENDIX 3: VIETNAMESE NEWS REPORTS ............................................. IX

APPENDIX 4: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF CHINESE

ONLINE NEWS REPORTS .......................................................................... XVII

APPENDIX 5: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF VIETNAMESE

ONLINE NEWS REPORTS ......................................................................XXVIII

viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the research

In modern times, with the rapid development of technology, the mass media,

especially online news are playing an increasingly important role in information

providing. Considered as one of the primary sources of information, news discourse

is generally believed to be objective, impartial, unambiguous and faithful in

reporting events. However, there are at times different versions of the same event

are presented in a wide array of news sources, leaving room for doubt about the

value-free and unbiased information journalists provide for news readers. Is there

existing manipulative power towards media? Does news show slanted views

towards the events? The answers can be found in the light of critical discourse

analysis in which according to Fowler (1991), language of the press is never neutral,

and news reports are laden with values and ideologies. That is the power of media

when it can influence people‟s cognition and form people‟s attitudes and

ideologies. It is presented clearly when there are at times of political tension and

conflict. The language use is manipulated by political orientation. Media then are

exploited drastically by each side to correct their image, persuade people, and gain

their support against their opponents (Nhung, 2012). Accordingly, in order to

understand the true nature of news reports, namely the social and power

relationship, the hidden ideologies, and the way they present people and issues, it is

necessary to employ CDA.

The relationship between Vietnam and China is considered one of the most

complicated, tense and conflict-prone, in spite of the geographical link as well as

the relational intimacy. Efforts have been continuously exerted to maintain

cooperative environment between the two antagonist “friends”; the connectedness,

however, at times has been interrupted by political tension towards the overlapping

claims of sovereignty in the sea. The seemingly intractable nature of dispute over

the sovereignty in the South China Sea (or the East Sea as it is called in Vietnam –

the name the author used later in the study) in recent years has attracted

considerable attention among politicians, journalists and scholars. For over one

year, the tension has been covered on the media. As a Vietnamese, this issue has

aroused my concerns. Moreover, few attempts have so far been made in analyzing

language use in online news coverage related to this topic of two directly involved

countries. Therefore, I attempted to conduct a study involving the East Sea dispute

on Chinese and Vietnamese online media coverage in English language under the

light of critical discourse analysis to explore how ideologies of the media

institutions construct their representation of reality to their readers.

2. Scope of the research

In this study, I would give spotlight on the online news reports on the East Sea

dispute from May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014. I am well aware that the wider the range

of data achieved, the more reliable the study result will be. Nevertheless, due to the

constraint of time and the limited length of a minor thesis, in this study, not all

Chinese and Vietnamese news reports were probed, but just twelve from the Global

Times, Xinhua Agency News of China and the Vietnamplus, Vietnamnet of Vietnam.

As this is a pure linguistic study, the author is not, by any means or in any way,

expressing her own political point of view. The study, therefore, does not support

any political parties or aim at changing anyone‟s political stance. It is for academic

purpose only.

3. Aim and objectives of the research

The study primarily aims to analyze Chinese and Vietnamese online media

coverage of the East Sea dispute under the light of critical discourse analysis.

To achieve this aim, the following objectives are set:

 to investigate the manner in which the conflict and main participants are

approached and represented in the media discourse.

 to explore the journalists‟ underlying ideologies via analyzing the

grammatical and lexical features of the news reports, from which revealing a

close relationship between ideologies and media language for political

purposes.

In order to realize these objectives, the study is intended to answer the following

questions:

 What are the underlying ideologies of each side with respect to the issue of

the dispute?

 How are such ideologies encoded in the discourse of the news agencies?

These questions are based on several assumptions. First, the news reports are

influenced by certain values of the producers, including both the journalists and the

media institutions. Second, all news agencies can reflect different viewpoints on the

disputed issue as well as the parties involved. Third, and as a result, their ideologies

can be different.

4. Significance of the research

This study is expected to provide theoretical and practical benefits. In relation to

theoretical benefit, the findings of this study are expected to enrich the knowledge

about critical discourse analysis. In relation to practical benefits, the study and its

findings are hopefully useful for the researchers and readers on building critical

awareness towards the news which is seen in daily life.

5. Research methodology

To carry out this study, the following procedures and techniques involving both

qualitative and quantitative research method will be employed.

Approach

CDA as an approach will be applied in the text analysis to uncover hidden

ideologies. The three stages of CDA given by Norman Fairclough (2001) will be

used with Halliday‟s Systemic-functional grammar.

Data collection

This paper takes twelve authentic news reports written in English from both China‟s

and Vietnam‟s new agencies, among which five are from China‟s top three

authoritative media – the Global Times and Xinhua Agency News, and another seven

are collected from Vietnam‟s top authoritative and influential media – the

Vietnamplus, Vietnamnet. The news reports in the research are selected in a range of

time from May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014.

For further description of the research method, see chapter 2.

6. Design of the research

The study consists of three parts. They are:

Part A – Introduction – presents the rationale, scope, aim and objectives,

significance, general methodology, and design of the study.

Part B – Development – constitutes the main part and consists of three chapters.

Chapter 1: Literature review

First, this chapter gives an overview of CDA – its definitions, principles and

approaches. Then Fairclough‟s three-dimensional framework, Halliday‟s Systemic-

functional theory, especially transitivity are concerned in this chapter. Finally, the

overview of related studies is also presented in the chapter.

Chapter 2: Methodology and analytical procedures

This chapter presents the background to the dispute. After that, the methodology

and data analysis procedures are mentioned.

Chapter 3: A critical discourse analysis of online news about the East Sea dispute

The CDA procedure addressed by Fairclough and Halliday‟s Systemic-functional

theory are used to analyze the news reports to find out the connection between

ideologies and language use.

Part C – Conclusion – summarizes the main findings of the study, draws the

common and different features in terms of transitivity and overwording utilized in

online media coverage of both sides. Then suggestions for further research are

offered.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. An overview of CDA

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), stemming out from Critical Linguistics (CL),

emerged in the 1970s by a group of linguists including Fowler et al. (1979) and Kress

and Hodge (1979). It was, after that, further developed in the early 1990s by Norman

Fairclough (1989), Ruth Wodak (1989), and Van Dijk (1998). Since then it has

become one of the most influential branches of discourse analysis, marking a turning

point in linguistic research from the purely formal to the functional aspect of

language.

1.1.1. The definitions of CDA

According to Fairclough (2001), discourse, written or spoken, is not merely created

by linguistic structures and orders. As language is a social semiotic, it is, on one

hand, affected systematically by social circumstances, reflecting social structures,

and social practices (Titscher et. al, 2000; Fairclough, 2001; Weiss and Wodak,

2003; Wodak and Weiss, 2004, Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002). On the other hand, it

also affects reversely the society to shape, retain, or change social relationships

(Titscher et. al, 2000; Fairclough, 2001, Wodak and Meyer, 2001; Jäger and Maier,

2009). Therefore, CDA, seen as an approach to language analysis, identifies the

correlation between linguistic production and social variables, or more specific, the

link of power, struggles over power on the composition of discourse. Put

differently, by means of CDA, the traces of ideologies pertaining to power relations

By CDA I mean discourse analysis which aims to systematically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations, and processes; to investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggles over power; and to explore how the opacity of these relationships between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power and hegemony. (Fairclough, 2001: 132-3)

can be exposed in discourse.

Sharing the same idea with Fairclough but specifying in more details the term

power relations in Fairclough‟s definition, Van Dijk, Wodak and Meyer defined

CDA as a type of discourse analysis studying how social power abuse, dominance,

discrimination and inequality are “expressed, signaled, constituted” (Wodak and

Meyer, 2001:2) as well as resisted in discourse in the social and political context

(Van Dijk: 2001:352). CDA is, as Van Dijk (2008:72) compared, “an important

diagnostic tool for the assessment of social and political dominance”.

From these points of view, it can be stated that CDA is an approach to language

analysis encompassing the interdependence of language, power and ideology. With

thorough description, explanation and critique, CDA aims to defamiliarize the

“naturalized” language used in the discourse, then reveal the power or struggles

over power as well as ideologies hidden.

1.1.2. Principles of CDA

Although the pioneers in CDA such as Fairclough, Wodak, and Van Dijk

contributed different methods for CDA, they all shared the same viewpoints of

CDA‟s principles.

 CDA‟s primary interest is to address social problems. It does not rely solely

on any particular discipline or discourse theory but a multidisciplinary

approach and methodology to reveal such problems.

 Power relations are discursive. That is CDA explains how social relations of

power are exercised and negotiated in and through discourse.

 Discourse constitutes society and culture. It means that the language use in

discourse can contribute to reproducing and transforming social structures

and practice, including relations of power.

 Discourse is ideological because linguistic features and structures are not

arbitrary but purposeful in a particular social context. By means of discourse,

power relations are produced, exercised, and reproduced.

 Discourse is historical in the sense that texts attain their meanings by existing

in specific social, cultural and ideological contexts, time and space.

 A socio-cognitive approach is needed to understand how relations between

texts and society are mediated.

 Discourse analysis is interpretive and explanatory.

 Discourse is a form of social action.

1.1.3. CDA’s approaches

1.1.3.1. Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach

Van Dijk‟s approach to CDA is a socio-cognitive approach. It is concerned with the

Discourse is not simply an isolated textual or dialogic structure rather it is a

complex communicative event that also embodies a social context, featuring

participants (and their properties) as well as production and reception processes.

(Van Dijk, 1998:2)

relationship between discourse, cognition and society.

He emphasized the role of social cognition in connecting the discourse structures

and social structures, from which social representations, attitudes, and ideologies of

social actors are exposed. According to Van Dijk, social cognition, or “mental

representations and processes of group members”, controls how people act, speak or

write or how they understand the social practices of others (Van Dijk 1995:2).

Therefore, he developed a socio-cognitive framework consisting of three parts:

social analysis, cognitive analysis, and discourse analysis.

Van Dijk stated that one of the focal issues when analyzing discourse is to identify

how the mental representations “are often articulated along Us versus Them

dimensions”. He assumed that generally speakers of one group tend to represent

themselves or their own group in positive terms. Whereas the other groups are

depicted in negative terms (Van Dijk, 1995:2-22). From the assumption, he

proposed a framework to clarify such an ideological dichotomy in discourse as the

following:

1. Examining the context of the discourse: historical, political or social

background of a conflict and its main participants

2. Analyzing groups, power relations, and conflicts involved

3. Identifying positive and negative opinions about Us versus Them

4. Making explicit the presupposed and the implied

5. Examining all formal structures: lexical choice and syntactic structure, in a

way that helps to (de)emphasize polarized group opinions. (Van Dijk, 1998:

61-63)

1.1.3.2. Fairclough’s systemic functional grammar approach

As noted in Jørgensen and Phillips (2002), with Systemic Functional Grammar,

Fairclough‟s approach viewed language in a dialectic relationship with society. That

is, it “both reproduces and changes knowledge, identities and social relations

including power relations, and at the same time is also shaped by other social

practices and structures” (Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002: 65). In other words, it is

socially constitutive and socially shaped (Fairclough and Wodak, 1997:258).

According to Fairclough (2003), the dialectic relation is realized through three

aspects: social events (texts), social practices (orders of discourse) and social

structures. Consequently, his framework comprises three parts, that is analysis of

text, analysis of discursive practice and analysis of sociocultural practice.

1. Text analysis is concerned with linguistic analysis pertaining to four criteria:

vocabulary, grammar, semantics and cohesion-organization above the

sentence level (Fairclough, 2003). Halliday‟s Systemic functional linguistics

is exploited for detailed textual analysis.

2. As Fairclough (2003) defined, “discursive practices” involves the production

and consumption of texts. Thus, the second analysis – analysis of discursive

practice – is an analysis of how texts are produced, received and interpreted.

In other words, this stage of analysis depends on background information the

participants have, which affects the text production and consumption

process.

3. The sociocultural analysis is concerned with economy, politics and culture of

a communicative event (Fairclough, 2003).

(The detailed framework with three stages will be discussed later in Part 1.2).

As can be seen, though the three-dimension framework of Fairclough is quite

similar to Van Dijk‟s three dimensions of ideology analysis, Van Dijk considered

social cognition mediates between discourse and society while for Fairclough text

production and consumption mediate between discourse and the social structures

(Wodak and Meyer, 2001).

Proposing a three-dimension framework with a step-by-step analysis and a list of

detailed, concrete suggested questions for textual analysis, Fairclough‟s framework

would help analysts, especially the novice analyze more easily. Accordingly, the

researcher chose Fairclough‟s framework for her thesis.

1.2. Fairclough’s three-dimension framework of CDA

a. Description

The first stage concerns with the formal properties of the text and focuses on three

aspects: vocabulary, grammar and textual structure (Fairclough, 2001:21).

Fairclough points out that the choice of vocabulary, grammar and textual structures

to make up the formal features of a text is determined by three values: (1)

Experiential value – an indication of how the text producer experiences the natural

and social world, using his/her personal knowledge and beliefs; (2) Relational value

– the aspect of a text that manifests social relations. (3) Expressive value – an

evaluation of an aspect of reality or social identities (Al Ghazali, 2007: 4).

According to Fairclough (2001: 92-93), the text‟s formal properties are realized via

ten main questions with a number of sub-questions. These detailed questions assist

the analysts in exposing the discourse producer‟s ideologies embedded in the form

of naturalized language use. (See Appendix 1)

b. Interpretation

This stage involves the relationship between text and interaction. At this stage, a

text is seen not only as the end product of the production process but also as a

resource in the interpretation process. The features of text and context (situational

and intertextual context) serve as cues for being interpreted on the basis of a

background of common-sense assumptions (MR – Member Resources).

Figure 1: Interpretation stage (Fairclough, 2001:119)

Interpretative Interpreting Resources procedure (MR)

As shown in Figure 1, there are six major elements of MR, in which a distinction

should be made between MR for interpreting the situational context (the external

cues such as physical situation, properties of participants, what has previously been

said), and for intertextual context (Fairclough, 2001). While the former involves

knowledge of social orders, the latter needs knowledge of interactional history.

To sum up, in the interpretative stage, those factors relating to how people produce

and interpret the discourse (textual features, context and background assumptions of

MR) are taken into consideration for interpreting the discourse.

c. Explanation

This last stage concerns with the “relationship between interaction and social

context with the social determination of the processes of production and

interpretation of their social effect” (Fairclough, 2001:21-22). These social

determinations and effects are mediated by MR: that is social structures shape MR

while MR in turn shapes discourses; and discourses sustain or change MR, which in

turn sustains or changes structures.

At this stage, usually the underlying ideological perspectives are exposed.

Figure 2: Explanation stage (Fairclough, 2001:119)

1.3. Halliday’s systemic functional approach and CDA

Systemic functional grammar (SFG) is an approach to language in which language

use, instead of being the arbitrary selection, seems to be purposeful in a particular

social context. By means of systemic functional approach, formal features of a text

are analyzed to discover the producer‟s purposes in employing a particular linguistic

choice, from which the ideologies and the social structures as well as struggles

hidden in the discourse might be unravelled. This is actually what critical discourse

analysts do and, therefore, that is the reason why this approach is normally applied

in doing a CDA.

In Systemic functional linguistics, language is structured to perform three



metafunctions:

Ideational metafunction: serves to express both people‟s experience of the

outside world and their inner world of consciousness. Halliday and

Matthiessen (2013) categorized ideational metafunction into experiential and

logical metafunction, of which the former deals with representing

experiences, our perceptions of the natural world (Thompson, 2004:39;

Halliday and Matthiessen, 2013:30). It deals with the question “What is

going on?” and is realized through transitivity system that construes the

world of experience into six process types.

 Interpersonal metafunction: is about the social world in which the

relationship between speakers and hearers is focused. It is concerned with

clauses as exchange. Speakers can use language expressions to convey their

comments, attitudes, evaluations and to set up, maintain or change social

relationship of interlocutors. Helping to find the answer for the question

“How do we use language to exchange?”, it is realized mainly through mood

and modality.

 The textual metafunction: is about the verbal world, especially the flow of

information in a text. It involves the creation of a text, or more specifically, it

deals with creating relevance between parts of what is being said and between

the text and context. When people are talking about their experience of the

world or interacting with other people, they should make the conveyed

message into a coherent whole. The question “How is the content of the text

organized?” via Theme/Rheme system can help recognize the thematic

structure.

1.4. Transitivity

Transitivity, in essence, construes the world of experience into a finite set of process

types. It is a part of the ideational function of clause. The “processes” (related to

physical or not, state or relation) are the product of our conception of the world or

our viewpoints that are transferred through language (Halliday, 1970 cited in Zhang,

2014). Thus, the selection of “processes” in a text can be ideologically significant.

Transitivity is employed to help identify what social, cultural, ideological and

political factors determine the selection of process types in a particular discourse

(Fairclough, 2001; Mayr, 2008:18-20). In other words, transitivity is seen as a

useful analytic means helping unravel the writer‟s underlying meanings and

motivations behind particular linguistic realizations.

The system of transitivity consists of different process types (actions taking place),

participants (those involved in the action) and circumstances (details about time,

place, cause, or the manner with which the process is performed). The type of

participants a clause can have is determined by the process type; therefore

transitivity is strongly focused on the verbal groups in the clauses (Thompson,

2004:89).

In Halliday‟s Introduction to Functional Grammar (2013), Halliday and Matthiessen

introduced six process types, each of which consists of three elements, namely the

process itself, the participants involved in the process, and the circumstances, if any.

The process is typically realized by a verbal group; the participants are realized by

nominal groups; and the circumstance by an adverbial group or prepositional

phrase.

 Material process: concerns actions, events taking place in the domain of

„outer experience‟. In other words, as a process of doing things, it expresses

notion that some entity „does‟ something. This process is usually physical

and tangible action. Two essential participants usually appear in material

process are the Actor (the doer of the process), and the Goal (the person or

entity affected by the process).

 Mental process: indicates the flow of events taking place in the “inner

world”. Technically speaking, it is a kind of activity in people‟s mind. This

process includes the sense of perception (see, hear, etc.), affection (like, hate,

etc.), and cognition (think, know, understand, etc.). Mental process has two

participants: the Senser (the conscious being) and the Phenomenon

(thing/person that is felt, thought, or seen by the Senser).

 Verbal process: is the process of saying. Besides the verbal process itself, the

elements that might appear in a verbal clause are the Sayer (entity that

produces the utterance), the Receiver (the addressee), the Verbiage (the

content of what is said), and the Target (the entity that is targeted by a

 Relational process: is the process of „being‟, „having‟ and „being at‟. There are

process of verbal judgment).

three types of relational clauses, namely intensive, circumstantial, and

possessive. Each of these can be cross-classified as either attributive or

identifying. In attributive intensive mode, a quality (an Attribute) is ascribed to

an entity (the Carrier). In identifying intensive mode, an identity (an Identifier)

is ascribed to an entity (the Identified). The possessive mode establishes a

relation between a Possessor and the Possessed (things belonging to

Possessor).

 Behavioral process: is the process of physiological and psychological

behavior. The obligatory participant is Behaver (a conscious entity that

behaves).

 Existential process: is the process of existing, indicating that something or

some natural force exists.

1.5. Overview of related studies

The confrontation between Vietnam and China in the waters has been one of the most

controversial and much cover-newsworthy. Nevertheless, so far CDA studies on the

news delivering the East Sea dispute have received little critical exploration by

critical discourse analysts, especially when the subjects of the study are Vietnamese

and Chinese news in English. Accordingly, the researcher decided to conduct this

study to investigate the ideologies of journalists of both sides when reporting the

event.

However, in terms of studies utilizing CDA approach to investigate the ideologies

of the media institutions when reporting an issue involving their own countries or

their allies, they share the same features, that is their positive self-image while

negative other-representation.

He and Zhou (2015), probed into the lexical choice of six pieces of news reporting

three safety accidents in China in China Daily and the Washing Post. The study

found that the two newspapers represented the same event differently, which

reflected the differences in their ideological standpoints and national interests. To

be more specific, China Daily chose derogatory terms to portray the accident

causers, the terrorists, but adopted commentary words to describe the government

actions. On the contrary, the Washington Post’s reporters utilized neutral terms to

portray the accident causers, and derogatory words to describe the government

actions.

Taiwo and Ota (2015) analyzed news reports on the Bakassi Peninsula conflicts in

Nigeria and Cameroon print media. The findings showed that newspapers from each

country seemed to present their positive images while claiming themselves as

victims of the other side. Specifically, Nigerian news vividly portrayed the violation

of human rights and injustice of Cameroon security forces. In contrast, Cameroon

newspapers delineated their security forces as responsive and capable of handling

the conflict.

Zhang (2014) examined the political news reports on Iraq war in the New York

Times, utilizing Fairclough‟s three-dimension framework and Halliday‟s functional

grammar, to expose different ideologies hidden. Results revealed that the reporters

built a positive image of the Bush administration as a friendly country and a

liberator while the Iraqi community led by a tyrant leader – Saddam Hussein was

portrayed negatively, labelled as an enemy.

Yang (2012) conducted an analysis on the New York Times and China Daily‟s news

coverage to reveal the portrayal of the Chinese government. The study suggested

that the two newspapers, though shared some similarities, each depicted the Chinese

government differently. While the New York Times tended to apply an “anti-

Chinese government frame”, a “pro-government frame” is preferable in the China

Daily.

Chen (2008), utilizing Fairclough‟s framework and Halliday‟s three metafunctions,

analyzed the news reports on Sino-Japan conflicts in the New York Times. He

probed into some linguistics features like lexicalization, transitivity, thematization

to find out the representations of China and Japan. The findings indicated that

the New York Times tended to portray China as aggressive, dominant, and violent.

In contrast, Japanese government and its people were depicted more rational and

courteous.

Ahmadian and Farahani (2014) analyzed the editorials of the Los Angeles

Times and Tehran Times to investigate ideological differences manifested in two

media outlets when reporting on Iran‟s nuclear program. They realized the media

bias in the representations of Iran‟s nuclear program in which each side expressed

its favorable attitude towards “us” while unfavorable to “them”.

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND

ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES

2.1. The background to the event

The tension raised in the East Sea on May 1, 2014 when China deployed the mobile

HD-981 drilling rig escorted by a fleet of vessels along with aircraft near Hoang Sa

Archipelagos (known to China as Xisha Islands), and claimed the waters as its

territory. This led to Vietnam‟s drastic protest. In response, Hanoi dispatched 29

ships to disrupt the rig‟s placement and operations. However, they met

fierce resistance from Chinese ships. The situation escalated dramatically after three

incidents. The first occurred on May 7 when China fired water cannons, resulting in

severe damage to Vietnam‟s side. Then on May 13 and 14, anti-China protests in

Vietnam turned into riots targeting Chinese-like corporations and Chinese workers.

Finally, on May 26 a Vietnamese fishing boat sank after being rammed by Chinese

vessels.

2.2. Data collection

The thesis takes twelve authentic news reports written in English from both China

and Vietnam‟s news agencies, among which five are from China‟s top three

authoritative media – the Global Times and Xinhua Agency News; another seven are

collected from Vietnam‟s top authoritative and influential online media – the

Vietnamplus, Vietnamnet. The news reports analyzed are selected from a large pool

of articles covering the East Sea dispute during May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014.

Moreover, corresponding to each incident, a pair of news reports from each side is

chosen to investigate the similarities or differences in the way journalists from two

countries report the events, from which unveils ideologies of each party.

The main reason why these specific newspapers are selected is that all of them are

representatives of influential and leading newspapers in China and Vietnam.

Besides theirs popularity, the online newspapers are chosen on the basis of their

hierarchy in media management and control, which often draws researcher‟s

speculations about different levels of news censorship and political manipulation

imposed on each site. (Nhung, 2012)

 The Global Times is run by the state and regarded as one of the most reliable

and authoritative newspapers in China. It helps provide China insights and

China views on domestic and international events (Olga and Ekaterina,

2015). As a major English-language newspaper in China, it is published and

distributed in most cities in China and more than 150 countries and regions

outside China. Thus, it has wider impacts on readers.

 Xinhua is considered as “official mouthpiece” of the Chinese Communist

Party. It plays a unique role in creating China‟s national image and in

articulating the Chinese government‟s policies with its ideological

orientations. (Li, 2010)

 Vietnamnet is one of the most popular online newspapers and reliable

sources of information in Vietnam. It is under the control of the Ministry of

Information and Technology. It has great effects on readers‟ feeling and

thought, which is considered a potential factor infecting readers with political

ideologies. (Nhung, 2012)

 Vietnamplus of the Vietnam News Agency is directly under the Communist

Party management. Therefore, it is considered as the “mouthpiece” of the

Party.

The objectives of the thesis are to find out what beliefs about each side‟s actions are

formulated and how they are presented to the foreign audience or what public

diplomacy messages that the online media of both sides intend to convey to the

world. Since online news reports written in mother tongue are perceived as a means

of government to “manufacture consent among domestic audience” (Nhung, 2012),

English-language media are chosen to serve the role of informing foreign audience

about the issues.

2.3. Research method

With the purpose of discerning the underlying ideologies of the reporters,

Fairclough‟s three-dimensional approach to CDA and Halliday‟s Systemic-

functional theory are applied to analyze the news. In the study, both quantitative and

qualitative methods are used. Three stages proposed by Fairclough (2001), namely

description, interpretation and explanation are intertwined in the thesis, instead of

being given separately to show the direct link of each step. To be specific, each

formal property of the news at textual analysis is in direct relation with the

ideologies of the reporters.

As Fairclough emphasized that his proposed procedure of doing CDA should not be

considered a blueprint, but just a guide with which depending on the research

purposes, some aspects should be taken into consideration. Accordingly, in details,

based on Fairclough‟s model of ten questions to find out the formal properties of the

texts, the researcher just focuses on some linguistic features to see how ideologies

of the journalists are encoded through language choices. With regard to

grammatical analysis, transitivity is scrutinized. In terms of lexical choice, only

overwording is analyzed.

2.4. Data analysis procedure

To each criterion analyzed, all three steps of Fairclough‟s framework are followed.

Initially, at the descriptive stage, transitivity and overwording are analyzed to see

how ideologies of the journalists are embedded in the news. In the next stage –

interpretation, context is considered. For interpreting situational context, questions

given by Fairclough (2001) are utilized as useful suggestions: What is going on?,

Who is involved?, What relationships are at issue?, What is the role of langue in

what is going on? Finally, in the last stage – explanation, the relationship between

interaction and social context is mentioned in order to see how the discourse

production and interpretation are determined by social structures and what effects

the discourse can have on those structures.

CHAPTER 3: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ONLINE

NEWS ABOUT THE EAST SEA DISPUTE

This chapter is devoted to a critical analysis of twelve news reports from both

China‟s and Vietnam‟s online news coverage on the East Sea dispute released from

May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014.

3.1. Transitivity analysis

Figure 3: The distribution of processes in Vietnamese news and Chinese news

61,9

44,9

32,9

17,2

15,7

13,9

6,5

3,7

1,8

1,5

Pmen

Vietnamese news

Chinese news

As can be seen in the chart in Figure 3, there is a similar transitivity pattern in news

coverage of Vietnam and China delivering the dispute. To be more specific, both

sides tended to prefer using material, verbal, and relational processes, followed by

mental and existential processes. On press coverage of both sides, the dominant

process is material (comprising 61.9% and 44.9% respectively). Verbal process,

which accounts for 17.2% in Vietnamese news and 32.9% in Chinese news, is the

second most frequent process type, followed by relational process (15.7% and

13.9%).

That these three processes were utilized more frequently than others seems to be reasonable. Regarding relational processes, they were deployed mainly to demonstrate the relation of the country to its legitimate ownership of the waters,

which led to the conflict of the two countries when each side claimed their legal

operation in the zone. As a result, all the actions of Vietnam in the waters were

deemed to have the attributes of opposition and disruption to China and vice-versa.

For the predominance of material and verbal processes, it comes as no surprise because the news of two countries were mainly concerned with reporting conflicting

actions and events happening in the disputed zone, instead of focusing on how each side feels or views subjectively.

One conspicuous feature is that behavioral process does not record any occurrence

in the news analyzed. It is quite natural to understand as in the news reporting the tense confrontation between two sides, physiological and psychological behavior

are not the focus of what the journalists aim to convey to the readers.

Another point worth noticing is a significant difference in using material and verbal processes on press coverage of two countries. Percentages of material processes in

Vietnamese and Chinese news are 61.9% and 44.9% respectively (the variance is

nearly 1.5 times). Whereas, the number of verbal processes used in Chinese news is

almost double than one in Vietnamese news. It can be deduced that the tendency of

Vietnamese online news coverage was using material processes to narrate the

actions and events of the dispute while Chinese online media tended to prioritize

reporting events. The dominant use of material processes in Vietnamese news

seems to show that the journalists are the eyewitnesses of the confrontation between

two sides, who afterwards portray precisely bit by bit what was happening to the

readers. Meanwhile, reciting what the authorities said about the dispute on the sea

instead of telling from their experience, Chinese journalists expected to be seen

more objective.

From the findings, it can be said that the newspapers in both countries were mainly concerned with reporting actions and events, in which the writers seemed to play

the role of a third person without posing their own views subjectively. However, when going into details relating to the distribution to each side of the three most

frequently used processes in the following section, the researcher finds that the news reports are not as objective as they seem to be on the surface.

3.1.1. Material process

53,2

48,3

24,4

18,4

5,4

4,1

3,4

1,5

0,5

1,4

0,5

C+V

C+O

V+O

C+V+O

Involved party

Vietnamese news

Chinese news

Figure 4: The distribution of Actors in the material processes

As shown in the chart in Figure 4, the deployment of material processes journalists

from two countries utilized is rather similar, in which the most dominant Actors are

of the opponent party. Specifically, in Vietnamese news, the most active agent who

takes “aggressive actions” is China, accounting for 53.2%. Meanwhile, in Chinese

news, the side that should be blamed for causing the tension in the region because

of its “provocative actions” is Vietnam, taking up 48.3%. These obviously indicate

that the news coverage of China and Vietnam were likely to focus on the activities

of the opposing side in the disputed waters.

Take the following sentences as examples when the writers presented their

country‟s opponent:

(In Chinese news)

(1) …the Vietnamese side deployed a large number of vessels to forcefully disrupt and obstruct China's operations, and rammed Chinese government vessels. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

(2) Vietnam slammed a Chinese oil company's launch of an oil rig.

(globaltimes.cn)

(3) …thousands of people smashed and looted foreign plants in industrial

zones... (globaltimes.cn)

(4) Vietnam's actions have violated international laws, infringed on China's sovereignty and jurisdiction, and endangered navigational freedom. (globaltimes.cn)

(In Vietnamese news)

(5) China has so far deployed many vessels, up to 80 at peak time…

(en.vietnamplus.vn)

(6) Chinese ships encircled and intentionally rammed at, fired high-pressure water cannons on Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance

vessels… (english.vietnamnet.vn)

(7) Vietnamese fishermen were beaten with two badly injured and their tools

were destroyed. (english.vietnamnet.vn)

(8) China’s recent illegal acts in the East Sea have seriously infringed on Vietnam’s sovereignty, running counter to international law and practices

and damaging the trust from the world community. (en.vietnamplus.vn)

From the examples (1-4) or (5-8), the similarity in the way journalists employed

material processes when depicting the opposite party can be seen clearly. By using

strong action verbs such as “deployed”, “rammed”, “slammed”, “smash”, “looted”,

“infringed”… Vietnam was described in Chinese online media as an aggressive

country with vicious and irrational behavior regardless the law. Similarly, as an

initiator of the conflict with a series of anti-Vietnam acts like “encircled”,

“(intentionally) rammed”, “fired”, “beat”, “destroyed”, China was displayed on

Vietnam‟s media coverage as a bully neighbor who is belligerent and could act

brashly, illegally in the rule-based community.

However, when portraying their own country, writers rendered the opposite images.

In Chinese news, almost all of material processes describing China‟s actions are

related to two aspects: peaceful measures to protect its sovereignty and citizens

(57.1%) and its normal drilling operation in the Sea (28.6%). These two main

themes reveal the ideologies of the journalists. Firstly, China was expected to be

seen as calm and sensible when prioritizing the stability of the region through

diplomacy rather than violence.

(9) Taking into consideration the overall bilateral relations and peace and stability in the South China Sea, China has exercised great restraint towards Vietnam's actions. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

(10) It would be the last way to organize nationals to withdraw from

Vietnam…to protect our nationals. (globaltimes.cn)

Moreover, over a quarter of material processes used to narrate China‟s oil drilling

process indicates that the journalists were likely to believe China was operating

legally in the sea, and the waters is of course part of China‟s territory.

Sharing the same viewpoint in representing the self-image of the country,

Vietnamese online news was apt to depict its motherland as a peace-lover but on the

basis of sovereign rights being respected. A significant proportion of all material

processes in Vietnamese news reports (60.4%) employed involves these facets.

Vietnam was delineated as flexible when precedence was given to peaceful

solutions to the dispute although tough and assertive manner should be taken into

consideration regarding the sovereignty.

(11) The Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force has exercised their utmost

restraint. (english.vietnamnet.vn)

(12) Vietnam will take all necessary and proper measures to defend its legitimate rights and benefits and safeguard its sovereignty. (en.vietnamplus.vn)

With respect to the role of participants as Goals taking place in the subject position

(see Figure 5), there witnesses a different pattern.

Figure 5: The distribution of Goals in the material processes

8,5

6,1

4,1

3,4

2,5

1,4

0,5

C+V

C+O

V+O

C+V+O

Involved party

Vietnamese news

Chinese news

In Vietnam‟s news discourse, the side playing the main Goals is Vietnam, taking up

8.5%. Especially, in all cases Vietnam was presented as the victim of an irrational

and hegemonic China, like in the following instance:

(13) [Boat DNa 90152] was deliberately encircled by 40 fishing vessels of China before it was attacked by the Chinese ship 11209. (en.vietnamplus.vn)

Whereas in China‟s news, it was the third party, namely the Chinese-like foreign

corporations (6.1%), followed by China‟s citizens (4.1%). They are the main targets

affected by Vietnam‟s violent actions in the riot against China‟s operation. Thus, it

can be affirmed that Vietnam via the negative depiction in Chinese news has

become an aggressive country acting recklessly, unwisely because of its blind

patriotism.

(14) …at least two Chinese nationals were killed and more than 100 injured.

(globaltimes.cn)

(15) 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in

rioting. (globaltimes.cn)

(16) In addition to plants funded by companies from the Chinese mainland, Taiwanese-funded plants, which hire many mainland workers, were also

attacked. Firms from South Korea and Singapore were also

targeted. (globaltimes.cn)

Thus, obviously, material processes are inclined to be employed to reflect the

positive “us” side and negative “their” side. Put differently, Chinese online news

tended to polish the image of its own nation as a peace-lover who was suffering the

irrational, hostile manner of Vietnam while operating in its inherent territory.

Meanwhile, the opposite side – Vietnam – was likely to be presented as the party

who escalated the dispute; it, thus, should be accused of interfering, causing

instability in the region. A similar ideology can also be conveyed in Vietnamese

online press via the favorable attitude towards Vietnam whereas the wrongdoings of

China were highlighted.

However, there is one more interesting feature that can be elucidated. That is

Vietnam‟s news coverage had a tendency to victimize itself to the opponent‟s

actions more than its counterpart. It reflects more clearly the writers‟ ideology:

derogating China‟s representation from which attracts the protest votes of the

international world towards China‟s operation as well as claims.

3.1.2. Verbal process

In the news analyzed of both China‟s and Vietnam‟s online news, verbal process

takes up the second highest percentage which indicates the journalists‟ objective

views on the dispute. It, consequently, would make the news more reliable with a

pure purpose of transferring the truth to readers. However, verbal process is

believed to play an important role in prevailing ideology embedded in media

discourse because whose statement is reported, or which part of a particular speech

is quoted, can be counted to make significant differences.

100

80,4

20,8

11,3

10,7

1,8

0,9

C+O

V+O

O Involved party

Vietnamese news

Chinese news

Figure 6: The distribution of Sayers in the verbal processes

The chart in Figure 6 illustrates that a majority of verbal clauses is resorted to give

favorable voice towards each own side. Specifically, in Vietnamese news, of all 56

clauses with verbal processes, the frequency of Vietnam‟s representatives playing

the role of Sayers is 45, taking up 80.4%. In Chinese news, the number of times

China raised its voice is 71 out of 106 (accounting for 67%). However, there is a

lack of voice from the opposing party. China‟s voice was rarely presented in the

Vietnamese news (making up only 1.8%). Likewise, the opportunity for readers to

hear the viewpoints from Vietnam in Chinese news is just 11.3%. Clearly, these

reflect the journalists‟ bias in favor of their own country by giving voice to only one

side instead of both sides equally. Additionally, the media of both countries tended

to exclude the voice of the “enemy”.

Even when voicing the opponent in a very few cases, most of the time the

journalists displayed their slanted views by staining the image of the other side. For

example, in the context of criticizing Vietnam when deploying armed vessels to

disrupt and obstruct China‟s operation, the journalist reported that:

(17) The Vietnamese side repeatedly underlined the importance of respecting

international law and international norms. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

The reporter‟s purpose here is to just emphasize the contrast, inconsistency between

what Vietnam said, respects and its real actions. This suggests that it is not China

but Vietnam who violates the international law.

In another case, Vietnam was portrayed as a liar when saying the casualty was just

one, which, according to reports from China‟s as well as other international media

institutions, was at least 16 in one night of the riot. Not only that, Vietnam also

blamed the other sides for traducing, fabricating “higher casualties”.

(18) Vietnam's foreign ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh only confirmed one death in Ha Tinh, and described media reports and accounts on social

networking sites of higher casualties as "groundless". (globaltimes.cn)

These are times when Vietnam‟s voice was raised in Chinese news. How about

China‟s voice being mentioned in Vietnamese news?

(19) Turning a deaf ear to the resultant outcry across Vietnam and the world, a Chinese official brazenly described the rig as “a Chinese border within the

mobile national territory of China”. (en.vietnamplus.vn)

In the above instance, China was depicted as an irrational hegemon who is keen to

claim its full rights to the waters, disdaining the condemnation of the international

community.

As illustrated in the chart (Figure 6), one noticeable point is the voice of the third

parties reported, ranking the second. It shows the dissimilarity between two

countries‟ media coverage. In Vietnam‟s news, of six verbal clauses in which the

third parties play the Sayer role, five were employed to show the support voice of

the other countries towards Vietnam. They all considered the actions of China as

“provocative” and “threatening”.

(20) Numerous countries from around the world, including Japan, Singapore and the US, have voiced their concern over the escalation, describing the move as a provocation and a threat to regional stability. (en.vietnamplus.vn)

On the contrary, 54.5% of what were reported from the third parties in China‟s

news is to render the image of a lonely China, who was deserted by the international

community in the fight for the legal rights to its inherit territory. They showed their

disapproval of the “provocative” moves of China.

(21) US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the US opposes provocative or unilateral actions that jeopardize peace and

security in the South China Sea. (globaltimes.cn)

(22) Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that Japan regards China's drilling operations in South China Sea waters as "provocative" to

regional security. (globaltimes.cn)

However, from China‟s perspective, these remarks were made irresponsibly and

recklessly. It suggests that it is not China who is irrational but these countries –

“countries outside the region”. What they said made the tension escalated by

encouraging “some countries‟ provocative activities.”

In almost all of the verbal clauses, the Sayers are mainly in high position like

China‟s senior diplomat Ouyang Yujing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman

Hong Lei, Vietnam‟s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Hai Binh, Vice

Commander and Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Coast Guard Ngo Ngoc Thu and the

like. By reporting what these figures said, the journalists seemed to manifest that

any comments towards the actions of each side were not from the writers‟

subjective viewpoints. Nevertheless, with more attention paid to what were reported

(the above examples), the journalists‟ ideologies and attitudes hidden in the news

are to some extent uncovered. Apparently, the journalists of both sides resorted to

the reputation of the diplomats, authorities, experts to make their remarks more

reliable and powerful, from which the intended ideological messages are more

likely to be conveyed to the readers. In addition, by giving voice to high-ranking

authorities, the media would represent certain ideologies and attitudes of the

government rather than merely the writer‟s interpretation.

In summary, by being politically partisan, the journalists of both sides showed their

negative bias against their opposing country in the conflict. It is reflected via the

unequal distribution of quotation. There was a tendency of devoicing and defaming

the outgroup while the ingroup playing as Sayers dominated. Especially, the voices

of authoritative figures representing “our” side tended to be utilized to enforce the

credibility as well as influence of the news reported. Accordingly, it can be alluded

that by granting scarcely little room for the opposite party‟s explanation, the

opponent was foregrounded in an unfavorable light merely with one-sided

depiction. Thus, the actions of one side were seen, in the opposing eyes, to be

incendiary, illegal, threatening to the security of the region.

It is noteworthy that the media of two countries also tended to give preference to the

third parties to render two opposite images. Specifically, while Vietnam was

supported in the fight for its territory, China seemed to be a lone warrior protecting

its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights when the international community

turned their backs on it.

3.1.3. Relational process

So far, there have been a number of similar patterns in news delivering of

journalists from two countries in terms of material and verbal processes employed.

However, when it comes to relational processes, both sides seemed to choose

different strategy.

52,9

45,5

17,6

15,9

15,7

11,4

7,8

3,9

2,3

C+V

C+O

V+O

C+V+O

Involved party

Vietnamese news

Chinese news

Figure 7: The distribution of the relational processes

On Chinese online media coverage, of all news using relational processes, things

pertaining to their homeland are focal points (45.5%), followed by issues involving

Vietnam (25%) (see chart in Figure 7). To be more exact, the property of the waters

and the legitimacy of China‟s oil drilling operation were primarily brought into

focus.

These are the examples:

(23) Xisha Islands are China's inherent territory… the waters where Chinese company operates is close to China's Xisha Islands, being only 17 nautical

miles away from China's Zhongjian Island and nearly 150 nautical miles

away from the coast of Vietnam. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

(24) This drilling operation is a regular continuation to relevant work starting

10 years ago... (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

(25) The current operation, which has entered a second phase, is a normal

legitimate offshore drilling task. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

In example 23, the relational processes utilized suggest the fact that the waters

where the oil rig located is in the China‟s exclusive economic zone. Therefore,

China, with no doubt, has the right to conduct the operation in its territorial waters.

Besides, as stated in examples 24 and 25, China has been operating for 10 years as a

“regular continuation” and “a normal legitimate offshore drilling task”. Hence, why

does Vietnam, at that time, claim the waters as its territory?

Regarding Vietnam-related matters, the writers just mentioned the attribute of

Vietnam‟s anti-China protests and Vietnam‟s obstruction.

(26) hundreds of Vietnamese workers at its plant staged a strike first, but this

quickly became violent. (globaltimes.cn)

(27) … the rioters were well-organized. (globaltimes.cn) (28) Vietnam has designated 57 oil and gas blocs in the disputed waters, including seven oil and gas fields in production and 37 drilling platforms…

(news.xinhuanet.com/english)

(29) The Vietnamese side's obstruction of business activities in Chinese waters

has no legal grounds. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

(30) … the Vietnamese side deployed a large number of vessels including armed

vessels. (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

As can be seen in examples (26-30), the image of Vietnam was portrayed as a

belligerent country which not only was exploiting the waters illegally but also

resorted to violence to interfere the rightful activities of China.

In contrast, on Vietnamese online media coverage, the relational clauses mentioning

the legitimate possession of Vietnam over the waters as well as its lawful

interference just comprised 17.6%.

(31) Vietnam has full legal and historical grounds to prove its sovereignty over

Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos as well as its sovereign right and

jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zones and continental shelf.

(en.vietnamplus.vn)

(32) The location is the traditional fishing ground of Vietnamese fishermen in

Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf ... the Vietnamese

fishermen persistently stayed firm to preserve their fishing ground.

(en.vietnamplus.vn)

Whereas the clauses employed to indicate the relation between China‟s oil drilling

operation, China‟s actions and their illegality are threefold (52.9%).

(33) The location was 80 nautical miles deep in Vietnam’s continental shelf and

was 119 nautical miles to Vietnam’s Ly Son Island and 130 nautical miles

to its coast. (en.vietnamplus.vn)

(34) Operations of the rig and escort ships of China over the past two months in

the area are totally illegal, infringing regulations of international law.

(english.vietnamnet.vn)

(35) … the number of Chinese vessels operating in the area of the illegal oil rig

was 82, an increase of three over the previous day. They consisted of 3

battleships, 42 law enforcement boats, 14 freighters, 6 oil and gas service

vessels and 17 fishing vessels. (english.vietnamnet.vn)

(36) China's actions are a serious violation of Vietnam’s sovereign rights and

jurisdiction under the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of

the Sea. (english.vietnamnet.vn)

As stated in examples 33-34, the oil rig is located in Vietnam‟s exclusive economic

zone and continental shelf. Thus, any operations of China in the area without

Vietnam‟s permission are considered illegal, showing its arrogance and disrespect

to the international law (examples 35-36).

From what have been discussed so far, the first thing that can be noticed is the

similarity in using relational processes to demonstrate the relationship between a

country‟s operation or interference and its legitimacy, which involves directly to the

legal attribute of the waters. Nevertheless, in details, it is obvious that the media of

two nations utilized two different strategies. These, interestingly, play an effective

role in conveying the writers‟ hidden ideologies to readers.

Firstly, to China who was against the world when claiming its legitimate possession

of the area, the focus on the legal property of its operations seemed to illustrate

China‟s attempt to convince the international community of recognizing its rights to

the zone. This, consequently, would reinforce the process of materializing the

disputed territory. Then a considerable attention paid to the attribute of Vietnam‟s

maneuver was likely to serve the purpose of depicting an aggressive, irrational and

hostile Vietnam towards China.

However, Vietnamese reporters did not seem to follow the same recipe. Because

Vietnam has already received the support from a number of countries, it would be

unnecessary to leave too much room for news revolving around its sovereign rights.

Instead, what the journalists intended to focus was on China‟s illegal operations and

actions in order to render a portrait of China as a warmonger, law-breaker and

regional troublemaker.

3.2. Overwording

According to Fairclough (2001:96), Fowler (1991:85), overwording or over-

lexicalization often involves a highly frequent use of words which are “near

synonyms” or “quasi-synonyms”. Jackson and Amvela (2004), however, claimed

that there are more than just synonyms but also hyponyms and antonyms. In spite of

differences in categorizing, it is believed that the use of overwording may

present certain meanings the writer of the text intends to convey, that is a focal

ideology. (Fowler, 1991; Fairclough, 2001; Jackson and Amvela, 2004).

Thus, it can be said that overwording is the frequent repetition of any words,

phrases or the like in relation in meaning to indicate a single entity or concept with

the purpose of revealing the hidden ideology.

The repetitive words and inter-related terms with high degree of frequency in a series

of news analyzed are divided into six main themes for each side. (See Tables 1 and

2).

Table 1:The main themes in Table 2:The main themes in

Vietnamese online news coverage Chinese online news coverage

Key concept Key concept Time of occurrence Time of occurrence

170 69 China‟s illegal operation and disruptive activities China‟s sovereignty over the waters

sovereignty Vietnam‟s disruptive 95 66 Vietnam‟s over the waters activities

China‟s legal operation 33 49 Vietnam‟s legal operation and defense

China‟s peaceful 42 32 Viewpoints on China‟s activities of Vietnam and measures and strategies

international community

Vietnam‟s peaceful China‟s viewpoints on 23 27 measures and strategies Vietnam‟s activities

International law/Acts 16 International law/Acts 13

As shown in Tables 1 and 2, it is no surprise when the news delivered by the media

institutions of both nations revolved around these six main topics. Here comes the

same story that Vietnamese and Chinese journalists would like to narrate to their

readers. The motherland has the legitimate ownership of the waters where its

citizens are conducting their work as usual. Hence, the intrusion of another country

into the exclusive economic zone together with its disruptive and threatening

actions is always considered illegal and provoking. These activities also show its

disrespect to the international law signed by involving parties. However, no matter

how aggressive the opponent is, the land still prioritizes peace-related measures.

The violence-related maneuver is just the last resort to defend itself from the enemy.

Although sharing a similar plot, how the story is made depends on the skill of the

storytellers, from which their ideologies are revealed. Therefore, the researcher will

analyze in details the six key concepts to demonstrate how journalists made use of

reiteration to convey their ideologies to the readers.

However, at first, it can be seen easily in Tables 1 and 2, news of two countries

chose different approaches to the story. In such story, China‟s media paid quite

equal attention to its sovereign rights over the waters and Vietnam‟s provoking

moves (69 and 66 times of occurrence respectively). If seen from China‟s

perspective, it is sensible to mention these topics equally. As analyzed above, China

was criticized by the world for claiming irrationally its ownership of the area and

illegally operating in the disputed waters; thus the job of Chinese reporters was to

persuade the international community its eligibility. Furthermore, a series of

aggressive, hostile moves of Vietnam towards China was necessarily reported to

uncover the true nature of an irrational Vietnam to the whole world.

On the contrary, a substantial portion of Vietnam‟s news coverage was spent on

China‟s illegal operation and disruptive activities (170 times), followed by the topic

related to its sovereign rights (95 times). It clearly suggests that what Vietnam

prioritizes is quite different from China. It is because Vietnam has already been

advocated by the world, so the attention should be steered to how to present the

image of a belligerent, law-breaking China. Nevertheless, Vietnam‟s legitimate

proprietorship of the waters is undeniable. That is why sovereignty-related items

were repeated 95 times, ranking the second most highly used in the discourse.

Sovereignty

As can be seen in Tables 3 and 4, sovereignty-related matter is one of the two most

important points journalists focus on. It was mentioned 95 and 69 times in

Vietnam‟s and China‟s news respectively.

Table 3: The frequency of inter-related words to sovereignty in Vietnamese

online news coverage

Times of

occurrence

Vietnam’s sovereignty over the waters 95

(Vietnam‟s/ its/ Vietnamese) waters 12

sovereignty, sovereign rights, jurisdiction 22

continental shelf of Vietnam, Vietnam‟s continental shelf 15

mainland coast of Vietnam, its coast 3

exclusive economic zone 13

the East Sea 16

Hoang Sa (archipelago/area), Tri Ton Island, Ly Son Island 14

Table 4: The frequency of inter-related words to sovereignty in Chinese online

news coverage

Times of occurrence

69 China’s sovereignty over the waters

(Chinese/ its/ territorial) waters 21

sovereignty, sovereign rights, jurisdiction 12

Xisha Islands, China‟s islands the South China Sea (waters) 14 14

China‟s inherent territory, Chinese territory China‟s maritime rights 3 2

disputed waters, controversial islands 3

It is shown clearly via the phrases referring to the area such as “Vietnamese

continental shelf”, “mainland coast of Vietnam”, “Vietnam‟s waters”, “Vietnam‟s

exclusive economic zone” (in Vietnam‟s news), or “China‟s inherent territory”,

“Chinese territorial waters” (in China‟s news). To make that territorial claim more

persuasive, the exact position of the zone was also described. Take these following

as examples:

(37) “The location was 80 nautical miles deep in Vietnam’s continental shelf and was 119 nautical miles to Vietnam’s Ly Son Island and 130 nautical

miles to its coast.” (en.vietnamplus.vn)

(38) “…the waters where Chinese company operates is close to China's Xisha Islands, being only 17 nautical miles away from China's Zhongjian

Island…” (news.xinhuanet.com/english)

Additionally, with any territorial violation, “sovereignty”, “sovereign rights” and

“jurisdiction” were always stated as an affirmation of their motherland‟s entitlement

of the waters.

(39) “China has irrefutable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their

adjacent waters.” (globaltimes.com)

(40) “Vietnam has full legal and historical grounds to prove its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos as well as its sovereign right and

jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zones and continental shelf” (en.vietnamplus.vn)

Another interesting feature representing the ownership is the name designated to the

zone. In Chinese news coverage, “South China Sea” was used 14 times to indicate

the waters, whereas Vietnamese journalists called it the “East Sea” 16 times.

Likewise, the islands by which the oil rig was located were named Xisha in Chinese

but “Hoang Sa” in Vietnamese (14 and 16 times respectively).

Apparently, the use of overwording indicates the reporters‟ political stance. However,

it is noteworthy that in Chinese news, there are three times “disputed” and

“controversial” was tagged as the attribute of the zone. It shows the reporters‟ strong

belief to China‟s legal ownership of the waters, to some degree, seemed to be shaken.

Legal or illegal operation

Because of the strong belief of each side that the waters is of their country‟s

maritime territory, the activities of residents in their area with no doubt are legal.

Moreover, any intrusion or activity in the zone from the opposing party is

considered to be illegal and to endanger the sovereignty and jurisdiction.

Accordingly, it can be deduced that of both parties, the reporters‟ tendency is to

present their own side in a favorable light, which is completely contrast with the

disparaging effect on the opponent.

Table 5: The frequency of inter-related words to China’s legal operation in

Chinese online news coverage

Times of

occurrence

China’s legal operation 33

China's (legal/normal) drilling operations(s), (legal/ normal/ 10

legitimate) oil drilling

operate/ operating/ (normal) operation 10

drilling field investigation/ drilling task, oil and gas exploration and 4

development activities

civil vessels, government vessels (on escort and security missions) 9

Specifically, to China, as its claim to the territory, China, needless to say, has

authority to perform its “oil and gas exploration and development activities”. For that

reason, lexical items indicating China‟s “normal operation” like “China‟s legal

drilling operation”, “legitimate oil drilling” were repeated totally 24 times (shown in

Table 5). This alludes that China does not violate juridical norms. Moreover, within

its territory, the presence of civil vessels conducting their usual work, and

government vessels “on escort and security missions” (9 times of occurrence in the

news) is justifiable.

With respect to Vietnam‟s activities, they are seen as an illegal obstruction to the

normal operation of Chinese companies. It is the reason why Vietnam was presented

as hostile and unreasoning. The repetition of “armed” or ”military” vessels (12

times), the use of strong action verbs and words with negative connotation indicating

Vietnam‟s actions such as “rammed”, “slammed”, “smashed”, “rampaged”,

“damage”, “collision”, “disruptive” (28 times) portrayed a vivid picture of Vietnam‟s

ferocious “disruption” (See Table 6). Moreover, by reiterating the inter-related terms

involving riots like “atrocity", “rioting”, “rioters” 13 times, the brutality and blind

patriotism of Vietnam citizens were also presented. It can be seen clearly that the

reporters evinced their negative attitude towards Vietnam.

Table 6: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam’s disruptive

activities in Chinese online news coverage

Times of

occurrence

Vietnam’s disruptive activities 66

(armed/ military) vessels 12

impede, rammed, rampaged, deployed, dispatched, placed 28

marched, slammed, targeted, cast, smashed, ran into, attack(ed)/

attacking/ attacks, damage(d)/ damaging, collision/ collide(d)

disruption/ disrupt/ disruptive, obstruct/ obstruction 13

riot(s)/ rioters/ rioting, atrocity 13

The story, however, was told differently from the perspective of the Vietnamese.

Chinese illegal operation and disruptive activities become the focal points in the

news reports. The lexical terms related to this theme were repeated 170 times,

ranking the first out of 6 utmost important matters mentioned in the discourse

analyzed.

Table 7: The frequency of inter-related words to China’s illegal operation and

disruptive activities in Vietnamese online news coverage

Times of

occurrence

China’s illegal operation and disruptive activities 170

(illegal) oil rig, HD-981 oil rig, Haiyang Shiyou-981 (armed/ military/ fishing/ semi-armed fishing) vessels, (battle/ war/ 27 68

marine surveillance/ coast guard/ refuelling) ships, planes/

(military) aircraft, (armed fishing/ law enforcement) boats, boats of

marine police, (fast attack missile/ fast patrol attack) craft,

freighters 67

rammed, encircled, deployed, fired (water cannons/ guns),

dispatched, lay siege, bore directly down on, beat(en), sank,

assailed, chased, intimidating, provoking, surrounding, constrained,

prowling, positioned, placed, anchored, attack(ed)/ attacking,

damage(d)/ damaging, destroyed, injured/ injuring 8

operate(d)/ operating/ operation

As displayed in Table 7, the number of times China‟s illegal oil rig accompanied

with a fleet of military, police and fishing vessels was reiterated is 95 times.

Especially, unlike China‟s news in which general terms like “armed” or “military”

were used to describe the opponent force, the flotilla of escorted vessels was

mentioned in Vietnam‟s news in more detail. The terms like “semi-armed fishing

vessels”, “battle ships”, “marine surveillance ships”, “refuelling ships”, “military

aircraft”, “fast attack missile craft” were employed 68 times. It indicates that this

was not solely the transgression of an individual oil corporation but the Chinese

government backed up and encouraged its violation.

Similar to China‟s journalism in reporting Vietnamese illegal activities in details,

such infringement of China was displayed in Vietnamese news via a series of

disruptive actions such as “rammed”, “encircled”, “fired water cannons”, “lay

siege”, “bore directly down on”, “assailed” and the like. These concrete,

visualizable verbs were reiterated in almost every news, occurring 67 times totally.

In face of China‟s illegal trespassing as well as continuous aggressive activities,

Vietnam had to take proper measures to safeguard its sovereignty and protect its

citizens. From the Vietnam‟s perspective, what China considers as law-breaking

and disruptive is just a legitimate operation as well as a sensible defense.

Table 8: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam’s legal operation and defense in Vietnamese online news coverage

Times of occurrence 49 35

Vietnam’s legal operation and defense (Vietnam's fishery/ fishing) boat(s), (Vietnamese fishing/ Vietnam‟s coast guard) vessels, (Vietnam‟s law enforcement/ Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance) ships, Vietnam‟s enforcement forces operating normally/ (normal/ regular) operation traditional fishing ground on duty, carrying out/ undertaking (maritime management/ law enforcement) missions, doing their duty counterattack 4 5 4 1

As can be seen in Table 8, the inter-related terms pertaining to this concept were

repeated 49 times, ranking the third most frequently mentioned topic. Within

Vietnam‟s territory, the presence of fishing boats “operating normally” in their

“traditional fishing ground” or the law enforcement forces “undertaking their

maritime management mission” obviously violated no rules. Furthermore,

Vietnam‟s coast guard was not the initiator but just “counter-attacked” the aggressor

- China.

Viewpoints on each side’s activities

The analysis so far has proven that the reporters were inclined to disparage the

“outgroup” in order to glorify “ingroup”. Such strategy was still utilized when they

selected words showing their critical attitudes towards the enemy‟s activities.

Table 9: The frequency of inter-related words expressing viewpoints on Vietnam’s activities in Chinese online news coverage

Times of occurrence 26 10 6 2 6 2 Viewpoints on Vietnam’s activities provocative, aggressive, violent/ violence illegal(ly), (gravely) violated reckless, recklessness threats, endangered, jeopardizing/ jeopardize, disturbing not conducive, not helpful

Table 10: The frequency of inter-related words expressing viewpoints on China’s activities in Vietnamese online news coverage

Times of occurrence 43 2 8 3 21

3 6

Viewpoints on China’s activities provocation aggressive(ly), aggressors, aggressiveness trick, heavy-handed approach, irrational illegal(ly), wrongful acts, violated, violating, violation a threat, threaten detrimental, damaging the trust, negative effect on the political trust, adversely affecting bilateral relations, undermine Vietnam – China relations

As shown in Tables 9 and 10, all of the repetitive words expressing the viewpoints

of each side towards the other, like “illegal”, “violent”, “provocative”, “aggressive”,

“reckless”, “irrational” are with negative connotation. Thus, it can be alluded that

both sides preferred using negative lexical terms to refer to the ill-nature of the acts

of the other party.

One noteworthy feature is that, besides the attribute of the acts, their “detrimental”

effects were also mentioned. The repetition of such words as “threats” “endangered”,

“jeopardize peace and security”, “not conducive to regional peace and stability” (8

times in Chinese news) or “detrimental”, “damaging the trust”, “negative effect on

the political trust”, “adversely affecting bilateral relations” (9 times in Vietnamese

news) illustrates other main concerns of two sides: peace, stability, and relation,

which actually affect the measures two countries are in favor of.

Measures and strategies

As mentioned above, besides the sovereignty, other goals that both countries stated

to prioritize are peace, stability and bilateral relations. That is why a hefty words

relating to peaceful measures and strategies were repeated in the Chinese and

Vietnamese news coverage (see Tables 11 and 12).

Table 11: The frequency of inter-related words to China’s peaceful measures and strategies in Chinese online news coverage

Times of occurrence

China’s peaceful measures and strategies 32

stability, peace 16

(self-)restraint 3

communication, phone call/conversation, consultations, negotiations 8

bilateral relations, joint/concerted efforts 4

handle disputes in a constructive way 1

Table 12: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam’s peaceful measures and strategies in Vietnamese online news coverage

Vietnam’s peaceful measures and strategies peace, peaceful (measures/ means) settle peacefully/satisfactorily, amicable settlement, stability dialogue, negotiations, discussing utmost restraint cooperation, friendship, mutual respect and mutual trust building Times of occurrence 23 14 3 2 4

For example, the two high-frequency words in Chinese news are “peace” and

“stability”, appearing 16 times. Vietnam‟s news reiterated “peaceful measures”,

“peaceful means”, “amicable settlement”, “stability”, and the like 14 times.

It seemed that both sides would like to express their good will in this dispute. That

is, in order to retain peace and stability as well as bilateral relations, the practice of

peaceful measures such as exercising the “utmost restraint”, directing towards

“communication”, “joint efforts” was emphasized.

International law compliance

So far, while the journalists have shown their pejorative views on their foe, their

motherland seems to be presented on the opposite spectrum. Once again, it is clearly

illustrated via the number of times terms related to law and regulations were

repeated. All are for the purpose of portraying a rational, law-abiding country.

For example, as can be seen in Tables 13 and 14, China‟s news reports mentioned

13 times a list of laws and acts, namely “the Convention for the Suppression of

Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation”, “the Protocol for the

Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the

Continental Shelf”, “the UN Charter”, “the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”,

“the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime

Navigation”. A little bit higher, 15 times of occurrence of such terms were in

Vietnam‟s news.

Table 13: The frequency of inter-related words to international law and act in Chinese online news coverage

Times of occurrence 13 6 1

International law/Acts international law/norms the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf

1 1 1

the UN Charter the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea, Code of Conduct

Table 14: The frequency of inter-related words to international law and act in

Vietnamese online news coverage

Times of

occurrence

15 International law/Acts

5 4 international law, practices, regulations the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea, Code of

Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (COC)

5 the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

2 Six-point Principle on the East Sea issue

In brief, with the discussion of using overwording, it can be affirmed that deliberate

choice of words with repetition truly carries the values and reflects the reporters‟

ideological intentions embedded. Both sides applied the same strategy to reflect

their own country‟s representation favorably via the use of neutral and positive

expressions. Meanwhile, the use of strong and negative lexis plays a role in the

negative presentation of the opponent as a violator, a regional peace-breaker with

violating actions.

PART C: CONCLUSION

1. A summary of the findings

Through the analysis based on Fairclough‟s three-dimension framework and

Halliday‟s Systemic functional grammar, the researcher has made an attempt to

illustrate the relationship between language, ideology and political stance. It can be

seen clearly in the analysis the underlying ideologies revolving around “us” and

“them” side that the online media coverage of both sides intended to inculcate to

readers. That is presenting their positive self-representation while disparaging the

other-representation. The following will summarize the similarities and differences in

how journalists of two countries exploited transitivity and overwording to convey

their ideologies.

a. Similarities:

Regarding transitivity, it seems that reporters preferred using material clauses the

most, followed by verbal and relational. In material clauses, both sides were likely to

draw readers‟ attention to the “aggressive” and “irrational” activities of the opposing

party who was seen the agent of the regional tension. Notwithstanding, of their own

side‟s activities, maneuvers displaying their legal operation and peace-loving nature

became the focal points. Besides, self-victimization strategy was apt to be used in

order to accentuate the quality of their opponent‟s actions – illegal, reckless and

vicious, from which the image of the enemy was damaged. In verbal clauses, there

was an unequal distribution of voice, in which a majority of voice raised showed

favorable attitudes towards each own side. The voice of the “other” tended to be

excluded. These illustrated the bias in favor of “our” side and prejudice against of the

other side. Relational clauses also witnessed similar features of media coverage of

both nations. The property of the waters and the legitimacy of each side‟s operation

or interference were brought into focus in order to legalize what were considered

“wrongdoings” from the opposite side. Moreover, the attribute of the opponent‟s

obstruction against the law was employed to emphasize the illegitimacy and

disrespect to the international law of the other side, from which the image of a

warmonger, law-breaker and regional troublemaker was depicted.

Based on the frequency of repeated words, it can be seen that both sides shared the

same six main themes involving their own country‟s legitimate rights and operation

in the area, their preference of peaceful measures and strategies when facing the

opponent‟s “provoking” and “conducive” activities, and their respect to the

international law. Relating to the sovereignty, both sides had a tendency to mark their

ownership via the name designated to the disputed region. While Vietnam used the

“East Sea” and “Hoang Sa Archipelagos” to refer to the zone, China insisted on the

“South China Sea” and “Xisha Islands”. Another similarity is in the lexical choices

used to depict each side. Positive or neutral lexis was likely to be employed to portray

“our” side. Meanwhile, negative lexicalization was for “their” side. It was clearly

shown through a list of strong verbs and words with negative connotations to indicate

the law-breaking maneuvers of the opposite party which, from the opponent‟s

perspective, were considered totally legal.

These common features discussed above have apparently demonstrated the ideologies

of the news reporters, that is presenting their own countries in favorable light to gain

the support of the world in the dispute of the water ownership. Meanwhile, the

opponent was portrayed negatively as an aggressor who acted brashly, illegally in the

rule-based community.

b. Differences:

The differences between the online media coverage of both sides mainly lay in the

proportion of their attention paid to each matter.

With respect to transitivity, Vietnamese online news coverage had a tendency to

exploit more material processes to describe China‟s “disruptive” acts and to victimize

itself to China‟s aggression. It reflects more clearly the journalists‟ ideologies in

derogating the image of China. By doing so, it was expected to raise the disapproving

attitudes of the international world towards China‟s operation as well as claims. In

verbal clauses, it seems that Chinese online media tended to prioritize reporting

events, which shows theirs attempt in distancing themselves from the discourse.

However, if investigated thoroughly, the ideologies of the reporters were exposed.

The third parties‟ voice tended to be employed to delineate the image of a lonely

China in the fight for its proprietorship of the territory because the world expressed

their disapproval of China. On the contrary, there witnessed an opposite effect of

using the outsiders‟ voice in Vietnam‟s online news coverage with the supportive

voice towards Vietnam. They all considered the actions of China as belligerent and

threatening. Concerning the relational clauses, the focus of two sides was different.

From Chinese perspective, the property of the waters and the legitimacy of its oil

drilling operation were paid more attention. Then came the issue related to Vietnam‟s

illegal disruption. However, Vietnamese reporters spent much of the time on

displaying the illegal attributes of China‟s operations and actions. These showed

clearly the purposes of the journalists. Firstly, it was reinforcing the process of

materializing the disputed waters by convincing the international community its

rightful to the zone. Secondly, an aggressive, irrational and hostile Vietnam was

successfully depicted.

In terms of lexical choices, a significant difference in the proportion of each key

concept suggested that each party had their own priorities in order to convey the

ideologies to the readers. In China‟s online media coverage, the attention was more

likely to be paid equally on sovereign rights over the waters and Vietnam‟s provoking

moves. They served the purpose of persuading the international community of

China‟s eligibility, from which materializing the area legally. Besides, by exposing

the true nature of an irrational, aggressive, and law-breaking Vietnam to the whole

world, China expected to gain the international world‟s support. Whereas in

Vietnamese news, China‟s illegal operation and disruptive activities seem to be the

most important information. Then following is sovereignty. Such priorities of

Vietnam displayed the writers‟ purpose of presenting the image of a warlike, law-

breaking China, from which more supportive votes from the community were

expected to achieve. Moreover, it is worth noting that Chinese journalists did not

seem to be fully convinced with China‟s jurisdiction over the waters when

mentioning “the disputed waters” three times in the news, which was not shown in

Vietnam‟s news.

From the findings with the significant differences in depicting two parties in the

news, it can be confirmed that there is actually a relationship between news reports

and their political ideologies. Simply speaking, the journalists in particular or the

media institutions in general are politically manipulated.

In conclusion, through the analysis, it can be stated that language is an effective

means to assert power and ideology; thus it can be used to control readers‟ actions

and minds. Such power of manipulation can have immense effect if it is used with

newspapers. Therefore, it is recommended that readers should be aware of how

particular uses of language are exploited in news to uncover the ideological

representations embedded.

2. Limitation and recommendation for further studies

The first limitation of the study is its small-scale database. Because the study has

just been conducted on twelve news reports, the findings of the study can,

unavoidably, not be generalized as the characteristics of Vietnamese and Chinese

news coverage on the dispute.

Besides, due to the researcher‟s limited ability and time, the study has exploited

some features of language at textual level. Therefore, further studies can be

conducted on the news discourse in some other aspects such as passivization,

nominalization, modes of sentences, and thematization.

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Wodak, R. & Weiss, G. (2004). Visions, Ideologies and Utopias in the Discursive Construction of European identities: Organizing, Representing and Legitimizing Europe, in M. Pütz, A. Neff, G. van Artselaer and T.A. van Dijk (eds) Communicating Ideologies: Language, Discourse and Social Practice, p.225–52. Frankfurt a. Main: Peter Lang.

Wodak, R. (1989). Language, power and ideology. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Yang, Y. (2012). A Comparative Analysis of the New York Times and China Daily’s 2011 News Coverage of the Chinese Government. Unpublished MA thesis: Uppsala University.

Zhang, M. (2014). A critical discourse analysis of political news reports. Theory and

Practice in Language Studies. 4(11), p.2273-2277.

Online newspapers:

http://www.globaltimes.cn

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english

http://en.vietnamplus.vn

http://english.vietnamnet.vn

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: THE 10-QUESTIONS MODEL OF THE DESCRIPTION STAGE (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001:92-93)

A. Vocabulary 1. What experiential values do words have?

What classification schemes are drawn upon? Are there words which are ideologically contested? Is there rewording or overwording? What ideologically significant meaning relations (synonymy, hyponymy, antonymy) are there between words?

2 What relational values do words have?

Are there euphemistic expressions? Are there markedly formal or informal words?

3. What expressive values do words have? 4. What metaphors are used? B. Grammar 5. What experiential values do grammatical features have?

What types of process and participants predominate? Is agency unclear? Are processes what they seem? Are nominalizations used? Are sentences active or passive? Are sentences positive or negative?

6. What relational values do grammatical features have?

What modes (declarative, grammatical question, imperative) are used? Are there important features of relational modality? Are the pronouns we and you used and if so, how? 7. What expressive values do grammatical features have?

Are there important features of expressive modality?

8. How are (simple) sentences linked together? What logical connectors are used? Are complex sentences characterized by coordination or/ subordination? What means are used for referring inside and outside the text?

C. Textual structures 9. What interactional conventions are used?

Are there ways in which one participant controls the turns of others?

10. What larger scale structures does the text have?

APPENDIX 2: CHINESE NEWS REPORTS

China urges Vietnam to respect its sovereign rights over Xisha Islands Source: globaltimes.cn Published: May 9, 2014 – 21:40:14 China on Friday again urged Vietnam to respect China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea and stop provocative actions. Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular press briefing. She reiterated that the Xisha Islands are the inherent territory of China and there are no disputes in this area. The waters of China's drilling operations are only 17 nautical miles from China's Xisha Islands, she said, adding that the operations are about 150 nautical mies from Vietnam. The operations of Chinese companies in waters off the Xisha Islands is completely within China's sovereignty, she said, noting that it is untenable for any country to make irresponsible remarks or impede China's normal oil drilling in its territorial waters. From May 3 to 7, Vietnam dispatched 36 vessels, which rammed Chinese vessels up to 171 times. The Chinese vessels at the scene are only government and civil vessels, but the Vietnamese side has deployed many armed vessels, according to Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry. In the course of the collisions, the Chinese side also discovered frogmen sent by the Vietnamese side 5 meters from Chinese government vessels, Yi said, adding that the Vietnamese side also placed many fishing nets and large obstacles in the waters, not only posing security threats to Chinese vessels and facilities, but also jeopardizing normal navigation security. Hua said Vietnam's actions have violated international laws, infringed on China's sovereignty and jurisdiction, and endangered navigational freedom. It is not conducive to regional peace and stability, she said, adding that the Chinese side had to take additional security measures in response to Vietnam's disruptions to ensure maritime operations and safety of navigation. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the US opposes provocative or unilateral actions that jeopardize peace and security in the South China Sea. The US also criticized China on Tuesday by calling its exploration activities "provocative and unhelpful to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region." Hua said the US has made irresponsible remarks over the maritime issues in recent days, which have encouraged some countries' provocative activities. She called on the United States to speak and act cautiously, stop making irresponsible remarks, and do more to safeguard regional peace and stability. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that Japan regards China's drilling operations in South China Sea waters as "provocative" to regional security, and Beijing should

clarify to Vietnam and the international community the basis of its increasing maritime activities. In response to Kishida's remarks, Hua said relevant Japanese officials should not make comments before figuring out basic facts. "Japan itself should respect the basic facts and international laws through concrete actions," she added.

Source: globaltimes.cn

Published: May 16, 2014 – 0:58:03

China protests Vietnam riots By Liu Yunlong China Thursday lodged a solemn protest against Vietnam over the wave of riots against Chinese firms in the country triggered by disputes in the South China Sea, in which at least two Chinese nationals were killed and more than 100 injured. The riots have spread to central Vietnam, after thousands of people smashed and looted foreign plants in industrial zones in the country's south Tuesday. One casualty was caused in an overnight riot at an iron and steel complex in Ha Tinh Province, invested in by Taipei-based Formosa Plastics Group. Formosa said hundreds of Vietnamese workers at its plant staged a strike first, but this quickly became violent. They began "attacking some Chinese mainland workers and damaged offices and equipment," it said in a statement, AFP reported. China 19th Metallurgical Corporation (MCC19), a contractor for construction of the plant, was one of the worst hit companies. "As we counted, the hospital has received 75 Chinese nationals, while the hospital says 101 are admitted," a high-ranking official with MCC19 was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying. The official said the Chinese victims died before reaching hospital, and around 10 others still remain unaccounted for. Dang Quoc Khanh, a local official in the province, told state-run VTV that at least 149 people were injured, and police had arrested 76 people and opened an investigation. Another worker from the Chinese mainland was found dead in a Taiwan-funded factory in southern Vietnam's Binh Duong Province, David Chen, former chairman of the Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam's Binh Duong branch, told the Global Times. A staff member of a Chinese business association in Hanoi told the Global Times that there have been around 90 Chinese people injured in riots as far as they know. Reuters put the death toll higher. It quoted a doctor at a hospital in Ha Tinh as saying that five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in rioting. However, Vietnam's foreign ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh only confirmed one death in Ha Tinh, and described media reports and accounts on social networking sites of higher casualties as "groundless," reported Reuters.

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China's foreign minister Wang Yi Thursday night held a phone conversation with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh, denouncing the riots and lodging a solemn protest. Wang said "Vietnam bears inescapable responsibility" for the rioters' attacks on Chinese firms and nationals, and demanded Hanoi to immediately stop the violence and protect the safety of Chinese nationals and firms. He also demanded an investigation into the violence and compensation for the losses of Chinese firms and citizens. Minh said more than 1,000 suspects have been arrested, and Hanoi will severely punish those responsible. The Chinese government has dispatched a work group to Vietnam. The riots in Vietnam come in the wake of rising tensions between the two countries over territorial disputes in the South China Sea after Vietnam slammed a Chinese oil company's launch of an oil rig in the waters of the Xisha Islands. "The rioters targeted Chinese people and rampaged any factories with Chinese characters on their signs," said the Chinese business association staff, adding that some Chinese companies are planning to withdraw from Vietnam. The riots caused panic and horror and hundreds of Chinese nationals fled to neighboring countries or back to China. Kirt Chantharith, Cambodian National Police spokesman, told Reuters that more than 600 Chinese people from Vietnam crossed at Bavet international checkpoint into Cambodia on Wednesday. In addition to plants funded by companies from the Chinese mainland, Taiwanese-funded plants, which hire many mainland workers, were also attacked. Firms from South Korea and Singapore were also targeted. According to Chen, there are around 1,000 Taiwanese companies in Binh Duong and over 200 have been attacked, with 11 factories burned. "These rioters forced the factories in industrial parks to stop operating first and then they rushed into the factory when the workers left, damaging equipment, robbing valuable things and burning the factories," said Chen, who suggested the rioters were well-organized. Chen said the Vietnamese government promised to send police and troops to protect them, however, they did not actively prevent the attack on Tuesday and Wednesday. "The police indulged the atrocity," said Chen, adding that the riots hurt investors like him and some of his friends are planning to withdraw investments from Vietnam. Gao Fei, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, told the Global Times that the Chinese government could organize planes to take Chinese nationals back from Vietnam as a means of consular protection. But Gao added, "It would be the last way to organize nationals to withdraw from Vietnam as it means we have lost confidence in the Vietnamese government's ability to protect our nationals."

According to AFP, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung described the situation as "very serious" and said that, while the recent groundswell of patriotism was "the correct thing," instigators who broke the law would be punished, according to an official statement. AFP quoted experts as saying that Hanoi, which usually tightly controls dissent, has allowed some public protests to go ahead recently as a means of expressing extreme discontent with Beijing. Amid the rising tension, the People's Liberation Army Daily said Thursday the Chinese army denied rumors of troops along the China-Vietnam border entering third-degree combat readiness, the third highest in the four-tier defense alert system.

Updated: May 17, 2014 – 06:52

China urges Vietnam to stop disruptions Source: news.xinhuanet.com/english China has repeatedly urged Vietnam to respect China's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction, stop its disruptive activities and pull all vessels and personnel out of the area, said senior diplomat Ouyang Yujing at a press briefing on Vietnam's disruption of Chinese company's drilling operation in the south waters to the Zhongjian Island of China's Xisha Islands. However, the Vietnamese vessels continued to ram the Chinese vessels on the site, said Ouyang, director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry. Up to Friday morning, there have been as many as over 60 Vietnamese vessels of various types at the scene, he said. He added Vietnamese collisions against Chinese vessels have totalled over 500 times since May 2. China has lodged representations with the Vietnamese side for many times, urging the Vietnamese side to immediately stop disruptions and pull all vessels and personnel out of the area, Ouyang said. Stressing that Xisha Islands are China's inherent territory, Ouyang said the waters where Chinese company operates is close to China's Xisha Islands, being only 17 nautical miles away from China's Zhongjian Island and nearly 150 nautical miles away from the coast of Vietnam. "It makes no sense at all for the Vietnamese side to disrupt Chinese company's legitimate and legal drilling operation in China's coastal waters," Ouyang said. According to Ouyang, China's operation does not begin this year or this month. Chinese company has been operating in this waters back to 10 years ago. From last May to June, Chinese companies also carried out 3-D seismic operations and drilling field investigation, doing necessary preparations for the drilling operation. This drilling operation is a regular continuation to relevant work starting 10 years ago, he said. Over the years, Vietnam has continued its oil and gas exploration and development activities in the disputed waters with China in the South China Sea, said Ouyang.

It is estimated that Vietnam has designated 57 oil and gas blocs in the disputed waters, including seven oil and gas fields in production and 37 drilling platforms, he said. Taking into consideration the overall bilateral relations and peace and stability in the South China Sea, China has exercised great restraint towards Vietnam's actions, Ouyang said. It is not surprising nor helpful to maritime stability and order that the Vietnamese side dispatched over 60 vessels including military vessels and marched for as far as 150 nautical miles to China's coastal waters to forcefully disrupt Chinese company's normal operation, he said. The Vietnamese side repeatedly underlined the importance of respecting international law and international norms, said Ouyang. The fact is that both China and Vietnam have ratified and joined the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf signed in 1988, but the Vietnamese side deployed a large number of vessels, including armed vessels to forcefully disrupt and obstruct China's operations, and rammed Chinese government vessels on escort and security missions in waters under China's jurisdiction, according to Ouyang. They also cast fishing nets, logs and other large obstacles on the sea, he added. All these have gravely violated international law, including the UN Charter, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, disturbing freedom and security of navigation in these waters, said the senior diplomat. "The current maritime situation is caused completely by Vietnam's illegal disruption of the normal operation by a Chinese company," said Ouyang. Despite all this, China has kept in mind the larger interest of bilateral relations as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea, and will maintain communication with Vietnam, he said. The two countries have smooth channels of communication, he said. Up to now, the two sides have had over 20 diplomatic communications at various levels, including a phone call between Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and a phone call between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart Minh, said Ouyang. "We believe that China and Vietnam have the ability to properly handle the current situation through joint efforts," he said.

Updated: May 28, 2014 – 15:58

Recklessness on Vietnamese side in South China Sea must stop Source: news.xinhuanet.com/english BEIJING - The increasingly aggressive and dangerous acts of Vietnamese vessels against Chinese oil drilling in the South China Sea resulted in an unfortunate accident on Monday.

A Vietnamese fishing boat capsized after it bumped into a Chinese vessel in the waters near China's Xisha Islands. Fortunately the crew aboard the boat were rescued immediately and were unhurt. Such recklessness must stop. However, instead of containing the illegal intrusion of Vietnamese vessels and their attempts to obstruct normal operation of the Chinese oil rig, Vietnamese officials have made irresponsible and wild accusations against China, which could encourage and embolden Vietnamese activists into undertaking even more aggressive acts. The boat accident was as a result of a kamikaze-style attack as the boat deliberately ran into Chinese waters and collided with one of the vessels protecting the oil rig. However, some Vietnamese officials blamed it on China and accused the country of "inhumane acts" and "attempted murder." The Chinese side displayed restraint and issued warnings that were ignored by the Vietnamese boat. The Vietnamese side should bear full responsibility for all its reckless acts and should refrain from taking any further moves that will escalate tension and disrupt security in the South China Sea. The Xisha Islands are Chinese territory and the drilling takes place in Chinese waters. The Vietnamese side's obstruction of business activities in Chinese waters has no legal grounds. Oil drilling operations off the Xisha Islands have been conducted by Chinese companies for 10 years. The current operation, which has entered a second phase, is a normal legitimate offshore drilling task. The oil rig off Zhongjian Island of the Xisha Islands lies 17 nautical miles (31 km) from the island, completely within China's territorial waters, while it is as far as 130-150 nautical miles (241-278 km) off Vietnam.

Published: July 15, 2014 – 18:04:37

China urges countries to stay out of disputes Source: globaltimes.cn China on Tuesday urged "countries outside the region" to stay out of disputes over the South China Sea after a US official proposed that claimants freeze actions which could change the status-quo in the region. In response to US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Fuchs's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, "China has irrefutable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters." Last week, Fuchs told a Washington think tank that the United States has called for claimant states to voluntarily freeze certain activities on controversial islands and reefs that could change the status-quo in the South China Sea. Hong said certain countries have illegally seized some of China's islands and reefs since the 1970s and that China has demanded the countries withdraw all their personnel and equipment from there.

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"Regretfully, certain countries have strengthened their illegal presence through construction and increased arms build up to infringe on China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights," Hong said, "to which the Chinese side is firmly opposed." Hong said China would resolutely protect its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and is always committed to resolving disputes with countries directly involved through consultations and negotiations, on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law, with a view to safeguarding peace and stability in the region. Quoting the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DoC), which was signed in 2002 by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Hong said all sides promised to exercise self-restraint, not to take moves that may complicate the issue, and handle disputes in a constructive way. China and the ASEAN countries are effectively implementing the DoC and steadily pushing ahead with consultations for a Code of Conduct (CoC) in the South China Sea, said the spokesman. "(We) hope that countries outside the region strictly maintain neutrality, clearly distinguish right from wrong, and substantially respect the concerted efforts of the countries in the region to safeguard regional peace and stability," he added.

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APPENDIX 3: VIETNAMESE NEWS REPORTS

Published: May 7, 2014 – 21: 26:00

China’s oil rig violates Vietnam’s sovereignty Source: en.vietnamplus.vn China has positioned an oil rig together with many escort vessels deep into Vietnam‟s continental shelf, violating Vietnam‟s sovereignty, Vietnamese officials informed the media at an international press conference on May 7. At the conference, Vice Commander and Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Coast Guard Ngo Ngoc Thu, said that on May 1, Vietnamese agencies detected the Hai Yang Shi You 981 deep sea rig of China escorted by three oil and gas service vessels moving from the northeastern area of Tri Ton Island in Vietnam‟s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago to the south. At 16pm on May 2, the rig was floating at 15 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 12 minutes 06 seconds east longitude, to the south of Tri Ton Island. The location was 80 nautical miles deep in Vietnam‟s continental shelf and was 119 nautical miles to Vietnam‟s Ly Son Island and 130 nautical miles to its coast. According to Deputy Director of the National Boundary Commission Tran Duy Hai, China has so far deployed many vessels, up to 80 at peak time, of various kinds, including seven military ships backed by 33 boats of marine police, marine surveillance force and fishery administration force, as well as transport and fishing vessels. In addition, dozens of Chinese plane are operating daily on the area. A flotilla of armed fishing boats and military ships are prowling 50-60 nautical miles from Ly Son island. Hai said that when Vietnam‟s law enforcement ships arrived to stop the illegal intrusion of the Chinese side, Chinese ships aggressively fired water cannon at and even rammed at Vietnamese vessels, damaging Vietnam‟s coast guard vessels and injuring crew members. The official stressed that Vietnam‟s enforcement forces had exercised utmost restraint in the face of Chinese ships‟ aggressive acts. Representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the National Boundary Commission, the Vietnam Coast Guard High Command and the Department of Fisheries Resources Surveillance (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) answered many questions of domestic and foreign reporters on the incidence. They affirmed that the illegal entry of Vietnam‟s waters by China‟s oil rig and vessels as well as their aggressive acts towards Vietnamese ships has violated Vietnam‟s sovereignty rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, seriously running counter to Vietnamese and international laws. It also violated the agreement between ASEAN and China on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the East Sea. The site of the clash is on an international shipping line running through Vietnam‟s exclusive economic zone. Thus these aggressive acts seriously threaten maritime security and safety, and affect countries in the region and the world.

China‟s wrongful acts undermine Vietnam – China relations and bilateral high-level agreements, damaging the trust of Vietnam and international community, the officials stressed. They however reiterated that Vietnam advocates the use of peaceful measures to solve disputes and will persevere in discussing East Sea problems with China and in adopting peaceful means to safeguard its sovereignty.-VNA

Published: May 9, 2014 – 15: 32:00

China condemned for escalating East Sea tensions Source: en.vietnamplus.vn China‟s recent illegal acts in the East Sea have seriously infringed on Vietnam‟s sovereignty, running counter to international law and practices and damaging the trust from the world community. China‟s bringing of a massive oil rig – escorted by a fleet of military, police and fishing vessels – to Lot 143, an oil and gas field in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, over the weekend is a barren violation of Vietnam‟s sovereign right and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. To make things worse, the Chinese ships used water cannons against and rammed into Vietnamese coast guard vessels, damaging them and injuring crew members. Turning a deaf ear to the resultant outcry across Vietnam and the world, a Chinese official brazenly described the rig as “a Chinese border within the mobile national territory of China”. This is against the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea and the spirit of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to which China itself is a member. Numerous countries from around the world, including Japan, Singapore and the US, have voiced their concern over the escalation, describing the move as a provocation and a threat to regional stability. The East Sea dispute has also become a hot topic in all corners of the world. Among many others, it made headlines in the US newswire Foreign Policy and the major German newspapers Die Welt, Die Zeit and Der Spiegel. “Regardless of how much energy actually lies under the ocean, Beijing's heavy-handed approach to regional relations and the damage it has caused could hardly be worth tapping some extra barrels of oil for,” commented Holly Morrow, an expert on the East Sea from Harvard University‟s Belfer Center. Not only adversely affecting bilateral relations, China‟s placement of the oil rig in Vietnam‟s waters is viewed a confidence trick to the whole ASEAN. It challenges the group‟s Six-point Principle on the East Sea issue adopted in July 2012. Can such behaviour from Beijing build among ASEAN members the image of a trustworthy China? It poses a threat to the ongoing negotiations for a Code of Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (COC), which other nations are working tirelessly to finalise.

Published: May 13, 2014 – 10:39

China‟s act raises the question of whether it is attempting to materialise its self-imposed and irrational “nine-dot” territorial claim in the waters. Why does China keep on taking actions that are detrimental to peace and stability in the East Sea? The question needs to be answered because this is not the first time that China has committed acts that further complicate dispute in the area. It is also not the first time our neighbour has approached the issue aggressively. It can be stated that such thoughts and actions are against the current mainstream goals in the world for cooperation, mutual respect and mutual trust building, which allow disputes to be settled peacefully. Vietnam has full legal and historical grounds to prove its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos as well as its sovereign right and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zones and continental shelf under provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982. Vietnam submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, with its historical legal grounds proving its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, in August 2009. China‟s declaration of holding sovereignty over the archipelago, which it occupied by force in 1974, is groundless. Vietnam is doing its best to pursue dialogue to peacefully settle all disputes with China, even when the situation has grown extremely tense. What has China done to “persistently use amiable consultation to satisfactorily settle sea-related issues to turn the East Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation”, as it agreed to do when it signed the Six-Point Principle on the Settlement of the East Sea Issue on October 11, 2011? The acts taken by China over the past days clearly have a negative effect on the political trust between the two countries and hurt Vietnamese people. Vietnam is a peace-loving nation. The Vietnamese nation has never knelt down before any hegemonic forces. Vietnam will take all necessary and proper measures to defend its legitimate rights and benefits and safeguard its sovereignty. For the Vietnamese nation, national sovereignty is supreme. No one has the right to violate Vietnam‟s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.-VNA Vietnamese vessels strike back attack by water cannons from Chinese ships Source: english.vietnamnet.vn On Monday morning, detecting Vietnamese boats approaching its HD-981 oil rig, China sent 15 marine surveillance ships and semi-armed fishing vessels to lay siege to the Vietnamese fleet. According to Tuoi Tre, the Chinese ships bore directly down on the fishery control ships and used water guns to attack Ship No. 9226. Subsequently, five maritime surveillance ships moved to both sides of boat 9226 and attacked it with water cannons. In the situation, the ship's captain, Mr. Cao Duy, decided to use water guns and water cannons to counterattack the Chinese aggressors. The confrontation took place over an hour and the Chinese ships withdrew at about 9:45am.

Earlier, Chinese ships aggressively prevented Vietnamese vessels from doing their duty in Vietnam‟s waters. In a press conference on May 7, the Vietnam Marine Police published photographs and video clips showing Chinese ships attacking Vietnam's fishery boats, damaging them and injuring 6 sailors. In the following days, three other Vietnamese were injured in clashes with Chinese ships. In recent days, China has progressively increased the number of ships and aircraft to protect its illegal oil rig. On May 11, the People's Army newspaper quoted Colonel Ngo Ngoc Thu, Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Marine Police Agency, as saying that the number of Chinese vessels operating in the area of the illegal oil rig was 82, an increase of three over the previous day. They consisted of 3 battleships, 42 law enforcement boats, 14 freighters, 6 oil and gas service vessels and 17 fishing vessels. Currently, many Chinese aircraft are continuously operating in the area. The marine police forces also observed two groups of Chinese military aircraft flying over Vietnamese ships at an altitude of 800-1,000m. China has also expanded the scope of a ban on ships around the rig from 3 to 10 nautical miles. Events leading to the current skirmish began on May 1, when the oil rig and three oil service ships moved from the Northwest Tri Ton Island of Vietnam‟s Hoang Sa archipelago to the south. On May 2, the oil rig was anchored at southern Tri Ton Island, 80 nautical miles into the continental shelf of Vietnam, and only 119 nautical miles from Ly Son Island and 130 nautical miles off the mainland coast of Vietnam. According to the Chinese Marine Affairs Department, it set the oil rig for "continental shelf drilling" and prohibited the operation of ships within a radius of three nautical miles from the rig. At an international conference held in Hanoi on May 7, Vietnam confirmed that the Chinese oil rig and ships were operating well within Vietnam‟s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. China's actions are a serious violation of Vietnam‟s sovereign rights and jurisdiction under the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. China is also violating the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea and other related agreements between the two countries, as well as the agreement on basic principles guiding settlement of sea issues between Vietnam and China. Vietnam demanded that China immediately withdraw the oil rig and vessels from its waters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group also voiced strong objections to China‟s acts, requesting the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to immediately cease its illegal activities and withdraw the oil rig from Vietnam's waters. Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh spoke by telephone with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi to voice his opposition to the operation of the oil rig and Chinese vessels in the continental shelf of Vietnam. Vietnam‟s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also met the Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to hand him a note of protest.

XII

The U.S. and Japan have also raised their voices, asserting that China's actions are a provocation which is creating tension in the East Sea. This is considered a serious crisis in Vietnam-China relations. Many experts believe that China's move clearly exposes its G of exclusively occupying the East Sea.

Published: May 17, 2014 – 22:20:00

China sends more military ships to Vietnam’s waters Source: english.vietnamnet.vn China on May 17 continued showing its aggressiveness by sending more military ships to areas surrounding the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig that is illegally standing in Vietnam‟s waters, said a senior official of the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force. Surrounding Chinese military ships unveiled canvas sheets covering their weapons, intimidating Vietnamese fishing vessels, said Nguyen Van Trung, deputy head of the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at a press conference in Hanoi on the afternoon of May 17. The ships kept on approaching and provoking the Vietnamese forces undertaking law enforcement in Vietnam‟s waters around the oil rig, said Trung. By the morning of May 17, China maintained 119 ships of various kinds, including coast guard ships, warships, refuelling ships and fishing vessels, he said. China has deployed two more warships, including a fast attack missile craft coded 755 and a fast patrol attack craft coded 789 to the site, he clarified. As Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance ships approached the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig to demand China recall the rig, many Chinese ships encircled, rammed and fired water cannons into Vietnamese ships, he said. Especially, Chinese ship intentionally rammed a Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force ship when it was on duty about 7 nautical miles from the oil rig, said Trung. At the same time, Chinese fishing vessels continued surrounding Vietnamese fishing vessels, however, the Vietnamese fishermen persistently stayed firm to preserve their fishing ground, Trung said. In particular, on the night of May 16, fishing boat QNg-90205-TS of Quang Ngai province was constrained by the Chinese ship coded 306 when it was operating normally in Vietnam‟s waters near Phu Lam island to the north of Hoang Sa archipelago. Vietnamese fishermen were beaten with two badly injured and their tools were destroyed. The Quang Ngai boat is currently captured by the Chinese side. The Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force has, however, exercised their utmost restraint. Together with the Coast Guard Force, they continue providing support for Vietnamese fishing boats to ensure their safety and operations at the traditional fishing ground around the illegally positioned rig, said Trung.-VNA

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Published: May 17, 2014 – 16:46:00

Binh Duong apologizes for disorders Source: en.vietnamnet.vn On Friday, Liem and officials of the southern province of Binh Duong paid a visit to foreign firms in the industrial parks of Vietnam Singapore, Viet Huong and Dong An, where many firms‟ operations were affected by riots a few days ago. On behalf of Binh Duong, Liem apologized to foreign investors for the unfortunate incidents. He said the province and the Ministry of Public Security were deploying solutions to ensure security for investors. "Binh Duong Province pledges to take all necessary measures to ensure maximum safety for businesses and to help them resume normal operations as soon as possible," Liem said. The official also said that the province was assessing the costs of damages to foreign businesses to offer them financial assistance to help them resume operations. Mr. Bui Manh Lan, Chairman of the Hung Thinh Joint Stock Company, the owner of Dong An Industrial Park, said 80% of the enterprises on his campus were unaffected by the riots and are operating normally. Of the 35 companies in the park that sustained damage, nearly 10 will resume production next week. The general director of Bowker Vietnam Ltd., a Hong Kong-invested garment firm, said his company has been operating in Binh Duong for over 10 years and trusts the investment environment in the province. "After the incident, our factory was damaged. But thanks to the timely support of provincial authorities, we resumed operation on Friday,” he said. A representative of Yang Cheng Vietnam, a Taiwanese firm, said the company was repairing its facilities to resume operation next week. In the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Parks I and II, 65% of the enterprises have resumed production. Several other enterprises plan to operate normally from next week. At Viet Huong Industrial Park, 50 percent of the factories have returned to normal operation. According to incomplete statistics, tens of thousands of workers in businesses across the province are on temporarily leave due to the consequences of the recent riots. By Friday, at least 950 people accused of vandalizing or looting factories during the disturbances had been arrested. Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang on Friday paid a working visit to Binh Duong Province. He instructed local authorities to promptly investigate and prosecute those who took the lead in causing disorder.

Published: May 26, 2014 – 21:43:00

Chinese ship sinks Vietnamese fishing vessel Source: en.vietnamplus.vn Chinese ship 11209 sank a Vietnamese fishing boat with 10 members on board in Vietnamese waters on May 26.

XIV

Boat DNa 90152 from the central city of Da Nang during its regular operation in its traditional fishing ground was deliberately encircled by 40 fishing vessels of China before it was attacked by the Chinese ship 11209. The incident occurred at 4 pm at a site 17 nautical miles from where China‟s Haiyang Shiyou- 981 oil rig is illegally standing. The location is the traditional fishing ground of Vietnamese fishermen in Vietnam‟s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. All 10 fishermen were then rescued by other ships of Vietnam. This is not the first time Vietnamese fishing boats have been attacked by Chinese ships. On May 16, boat QNg 90205-TS‟s regular operation in the traditional fishing ground in Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago was disrupted by Chinese ship coded 306. Vietnamese fishermen were then beaten by crew members of the Chinese ship while their properties were taken away. After being assailed, the boat managed to escape and then get medical assistance from Vietnam‟s coast guard vessels. Quang, the captain of the boat, said the attack cost him about 500 million VND (23,500 USD). On May 7, fishing boat QNg 96416-TS was chased and rammed by a Chinese ship in the Hoang Sa area, suffering from damage to its sides and cabin. Since the beginning of May, China illegally dispatched the rig, as well as a large fleet of armed vessels, military ships and aircraft, to Vietnamese waters and positioned the rig at a location 80 miles deep inside Vietnam‟s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). Chinese ships have repeatedly rammed and fired water cannons into Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance ships which are carrying out their law enforcement missions in the country‟s waters, leaving many Vietnamese ships damaged and officers injured.-VNA

Published: July 16, 2014 – 13:59

China asked not to take rig back for peace in East Sea Source: english.vietnamnet.vn Vietnam demands China not to take its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 back or dispatch any other rigs to Vietnam‟s oil and gas Block 143 or any other areas belonging to Vietnam‟s waters as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in order to create a peaceful and stable environment in the East Sea, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Hai Binh has said. The spokesman made the statement on July 16 in reply to the news that China moved the rig that it has illegally placed in Vietnam‟s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone since early May. Binh recalled that that since May 2, 2014, China‟s rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 and a large number of escort ships, including military ships, have violated the exclusive economic zone and

continental shelf of Vietnam. The rig‟s location was about 130 nautical miles from the coast of Vietnam. Chinese ships encircled and intentionally rammed at, fired high-pressure water canon on Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance vessels undertaking their maritime management missions in Vietnam‟s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The actions by the Chinese side injured many of the fisheries administration officers, caused losses for Vietnamese law enforcement authorities at sea, and even sank a Vietnamese fishing boat. “Vietnam has struggled to safeguard her sovereignty and jurisdiction by peaceful measures,” Binh affirmed. “Vietnam has again affirmed that the area where Haiyang Shiyou-981 has operated since early May belongs to Vietnam‟s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Operations of the rig and escort ships of China over the past two months in the area are totally illegal, infringing regulations of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” the spokesman said. “Vietnam wishes to reach an amicable settlement of disputes and disagreements in the East Sea on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” Binh noted, demanding China respect Vietnam‟s sovereign right and jurisdiction to her exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The spokesman confirmed that Vietnam resolutely defends her sovereignty and sovereign right in conformity with international law. According to the High Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard, China‟s oil rig Haiyang Shiyou – 981 was moving north-northwest toward China‟s Hainan island at 21:03pm on July 15. The rig and the fleet of nearly 60 escort ships were moving at a speed of 4-4.2 nautical miles per hour. At 6:20am on July 16, it was 41 nautical miles from its previous position, about 163 nautical miles southwest of Hainan island.-VNA

XVI

APPENDIX 4: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF

CHINESE ONLINE NEWS REPORTS

Participant

Role

Process

Process type

China

urged

Vietnam

Sen

to respect

Pmen

(Vietnam)

stop

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua

S made (the remark)

Chunying

She

reiterated

the Xisha Islands

are

C+V

no disputes

are

The waters of China's drilling operations Car

are

she

said

(she)

adding

the operations

Car

are

The operations of Chinese companies

fall

she

said

(she)

noting

V+O

any country

to make remarks

to impede

(any country)

dispatched

Vietnam

rammed

36 vessels

Car

are

The Chinese vessels

has deployed

the Vietnamese side

Sen

discovered

Pmen

the Chinese side

sent

frogmen

said

adding

(Yi)

placed

the Vietnamese side

posing

(fishing nets and obstacles)

jeopardizing

(fishing nets and obstacles)

XVII

Hua

said

Vietnam's actions

have violated

(Vietnam's actions)

infringed

(Vietnam's actions)

endangered

is not

she

said

(she)

adding

the Chinese side

had to take

US State Department spokeswoman

said

opposes

provocative or unilateral actions

jeopardize

criticized

calling

Hua

said

the US

has made (remarks)

irresponsible remarks over the maritime

have encouraged

issues

she

called on

(US)

to speak

(US)

act

stop making

(US)

remarks

(US)

said

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida

Japan

Sen

regards

Pmen

Beijing

clarify

Hua

said

Japanese officials

S make comments

(Japanese officials)

Sen

figuring out

Pmen

Japan

Sen

respect

Pmen

she

added

China

lodged

XVIII

the wave of riots against Chinese firms

triggered

at least two Chinese nationals

were killed

more than 100

injured

The riots (V)

Car

have spread

thousands of people

smashed

(thousands of people)

looted

One casualty

was caused

an iron and steel complex

invested in

Formosa

said

hundreds of Vietnamese workers

staged

this (a strike)

Car

became

They

began attacking

(They)

damaged

It (Formosa)

said

AFP

reported

MCC19

Car was

counted

the hospital

has received

the hospital

says

101

are admitted

a high-ranking official with MCC19

was quoted

a high-ranking official with MCC19

saying

The official

said

the Chinese victims

died

(the Chinese victims)

reaching

around 10 others

Car

remain

Dang Quoc Khanh

told

C+V

at least 149 people

were injured

the police

had arrested

(the police)

opened

Another worker

from

the Chinese

was found

Pmen

mainland

David Chen

told

A staff member of a Chinese business

told

XIX

association

(around 90 Chinese people injured)

have been

90 Chinese people

injured

they

Sen

know

Pmen

Reuters

put

quoted

(it)

saying

five Vietnamese workers and 16 other

C+V

were killed

people described as Chinese

Vietnam's foreign ministry spokesperson

confirmed

Le Hai Binh

(Le Hai Binh)

described

Reuters

reported

China's foreign minister Wang Yi

held (a phone conversation)

(China's foreign minister Wang Yi)

denouncing

(China's foreign minister Wang Yi)

lodging

Wang

said

Vietnam

bears

(Wang)

demanded

Hanoi

to stop

(Hanoi)

protect

demanded

Minh

said

more than 1,000 suspects

have been arrested

Hanoi

will punish

The Chinese government

has dispatched

The riots in Vietnam

come

Vietnam

slammed

The rioters

targeted

(The rioters)

rampaged

the Chinese business association staff

said

(the Chinese business association staff)

adding

are planning to

some Chinese companies

withdraw

The riots

caused

hundreds of Chinese nationals

fled

Cambodian National Police spokesman

told

more than 600 Chinese people

crossed

plants

funded

Taiwanese-funded plants

hire

(Taiwanese-funded plants)

were also attacked

Firms from South Korea and Singapore

were also targeted

1,000 Taiwanese companies

there are

have been

over 200 (Taiwanese companies)

attacked

burned

11 factories

forced

These rioters

C+O

the factories in industrial parks

to stop operating

rushed

They

left

C+V

the workers

damaging

(these riots)

robbing

(these riots)

burning

(these riots)

said

Chen

suggested

(Chen)

Car were

the rioters

said

Chen

promised to send

the Vietnamese government

to protect

(the Vietnamese government)

did not prevent

They

indulged

The police

said

Chen

adding

(Chen)

hurt

the riots

XXI

C+O

some of his friends

are planning to withdraw

Gao Fei

told

the Chinese government

could organize

Gao

added

It (taking planes)

Id would be

(the Chinese government)

to organize

nationals

to withdraw

Id means

have lost

Sen

Pmen

(confidence)

(the Vietnamese government)

to protect

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan

described

Dung

(Nguyen Tan Dung)

said

the recent groundswell of patriotism

Id was

broke

(instigators)

would be

instigators

punished

quoted

AFP

saying

experts

has allowed

Hanoi

controls

(Hanoi)

to go ahead

some public protests

said

the People's Liberation Army Daily

denied

the Chinese army

entering

troops along the China-Vietnam border

has urged

China

Vietnam

Sen

to respect

Pmen

stop

(Vietnam)

pull

(Vietnam)

said

senior diplomat Ouyang Yujing

the Vietnamese vessels

continued to ram

said

Ouyang

XXII

(over 60 Vietnamese vessels)

there have been

said

Vietnamese collisions against Chinese

Car

have totalled

vessels

added

China

has lodged

(China)

urging

Vietnamese side

to stop

(Vietnamese side)

pull

Ouyang

said

(Ouyang)

stressing

Xisha Islands

Car

are

Ouyang

said

the waters

Car

Chinese company

operates

(the waters)

being

makes no sense

Pmen

Vietnamese side

to disrupt

Ouyang

said

China's operation

does not begin

has been

Chinese company

operating

Chinese companies

carried out

(Chinese companies)

doing

This drilling operation

Car

(This drilling operation)

starting

said

Vietnam

has continued

Ouyang

said

is estimated

Pmen

Vietnam

has designated

57 oil and gas blocs

including

said

taking into

(he)

Sen

Pmen

consideration

XXIII

China

has exercised

Ouyang

said

Car

is not

the Vietnamese side

dispatched

60 vessels

including

(the Vietnamese side)

A marched

(the Vietnamese side)

to disrupt

said

The Vietnamese side

underlined

Ouyang

said

The fact

C+V

both China and Vietnam

have ratified

C+V

(both China and Vietnam)

joined

(the Acts)

signed

the Vietnamese side

deployed

vessels

including

(vessels)

to disrupt

(vessels)

(to) obstruct

(the Vietnamese side)

rammed

They

cast

added

All these

have violated

international law

including

(All these)

disturbing

the senior diplomat

said

The current maritime situation

is caused

Ouyang

said

China

Sen

has kept in mind

Pmen

(China)

will maintain

said

C+V

The two countries

Car

have

said

the two sides

C+V

Car

have had

C+V

20 diplomatic communications

including

Ouyang

said

XXIV

Sen

believe

Pmen

C+V

China and Vietnam

Car

have

said

C+V

China and Vietnam

to handle

The

increasingly

aggressive

and

resulted in

dangerous acts of Vietnamese vessels against Chinese oil drilling

A Vietnamese fishing boat

capsized

bumped into

the crew aboard the boat

were rescued

(the crew aboard the boat)

Car were

Such recklessness

A must stop

(Vietnamese officials)

containing

Vietnamese officials

have made accusations

(irresponsible and wild accusations)

encourage

(irresponsible and wild accusations)

embolden

Vietnamese activists

undertaking

V+C

The boat accident

Id was

ran into

the boat

collided

(the boat)

protecting

one of the vessels

blamed

some Vietnamese officials

accused

(some Vietnamese officials)

Car

displayed

The Chinese side

issued

(The Chinese side)

were ignored

Pmen

warnings

should bear full

The Vietnamese side

responsibility

should refrain

(The Vietnamese side)

will escalate

any further moves

disrupt

(any further moves)

Car

are

The Xisha Islands

XXV

the drilling

takes place

The Vietnamese side's obstruction of

Car

has

business activities

have been

Oil drilling operations

conducted

The current operation

has entered

(The current operation)

Car

The oil rig off Zhongjian Island of the

lies

Xisha Islands

it (The oil rig)

China

urged

countries outside the region

to stay

a US official

proposed

C+V

claimants

freeze

C+V

actions

change

Hong Lei

said

China

Car

has

Fuchs

told

the United States

has called for

C+V

claimant states

to freeze

certain activities on controversial islands

C+V

could change

and reefs

Hong

said

V+O

certain countries

have seized

China

has demanded

V+O

the countries

withdraw

V+O

certain countries

have strengthened

V+O

(certain countries)

increased

V+O

(certain countries)

to infringe

Hong

said

the Chinese side

Car

Hong

said

China

protect

(China)

Car

XXVI

resolving

(China)

(are) involved

V+O

countries

quoting

(Hong)

the Declaration on the Conduct of the

was signed

Parties in the South China Sea

said

Hong

promised to

C+V+O

all sides

exercise

not to take

C+V+O

(all sides)

A may complicate

V+O

moves

C+V+O

all sides

(promised to) handle

are effectively

C+V+O China and the ASEAN countries

implementing

C+V+O

(China and the ASEAN countries)

steadily pushing ahead

said

the spokesman

Sen

hope

Pmen

Car maintain

countries outside the region

Sen

distinguish

Pmen

(countries outside the region)

Sen

respect

Pmen

(countries outside the region)

to safeguard

(countries outside the region)

added

XXVII

APPENDIX 5: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF

VIETNAMESE ONLINE NEWS REPORTS

Participant 1 Role Process Process type

C C V A A S has positioned violating informed Pm Pm Pv

V S said Pv

V C C C C C C C C C detected Sen G escorted A moving A was floating Id was Id was A Id G A has deployed including backed are operating Pmen Pm Pm Pm Pr Pr Pm Pr Pm Pm

C are prowling A Pm

V V V C C C C V V China (China) Vietnamese officials Vice Commander and Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Coast Guard Ngo Ngoc Thu Vietnamese agencies Hai Yang Shi You 981 (Hai Yang Shi You 981) the rig The location (of the rig) (The location) China (80 vessels) seven military ships dozens of Chinese plane A flotilla of armed fishing boats and military ships Hai Vietnam‟s law enforcement ships Vietnam‟s law enforcement ships Chinese ships (Chinese ships) (Chinese ships) (Chinese ships) The official Vietnam‟s enforcement forces said arrived to stop fired rammed damaging injuring stressed had exercised S A A A A A A S A Pv Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pv Pm

V S Representatives from the Foreign answered Pv

XXVIII

Ministry

V S affirmed Pv

C A has violated Pm their aggressive acts

C A running counter Pm their aggressive acts

C O O C C C C V V V V They the illegal entry of Vietnam‟s waters by China‟s oil rig and vessels as well as towards Vietnamese ships (the illegal entry of Vietnam‟s waters by China‟s oil rig and vessels as well as towards Vietnamese ships) It The site of the clash international shipping line These aggressive acts These aggressive acts China‟s wrongful acts (China‟s wrongful acts) the officials they Vietnam Vietnam A Car Car A A A A S S S A Pm Pr Pr Pm Pm Pm Pm Pv Pv Pv Pm

V Vietnam S Pv

V V A A violated is running through threaten affect undermine damaging stressed reiterated advocates to solve persevering in discussing adopting to safeguard Pm Pm

C A have infringed Pm

C A running counter Pm

C A damaging Pm

C C C C Vietnam (Vietnam) China‟s recent illegal acts in the East Sea (China‟s recent illegal acts in the East Sea) (China‟s recent illegal acts in the East Sea) massive oil rig China‟s bringing of a massive oil rig (the Chinese ships) the Chinese ships G Car Att A escorted is to make used Pm Pr Pr Pm

XXIX

C C C (the Chinese ships) (the Chinese ships) (the Chinese ships) A A A Pm Pm Pm

C (a Chinese official) Sen Pmen

C C C S Car Car rammed damaging injuring turning (a deaf ear) described is is Pv Pr Pr

O Id including Pr

O S have voiced Pv a Chinese official This (China‟s description) China Numerous countries from around the world Numerous countries from around the world

O (Numerous countries) S describing Pv

has also become

C+V C+V C Car Car made A has caused Pr Pr Pm

C Car could be Pr

C O C The east sea dispute it (The east sea dispute) it (China) Beijing's heavy-handed approach to regional relations and the damage it has caused (China) Holly Morrow (China‟s placement of the oil rig) A S A tapping commented affecting Pm Pv Pm

C China‟s placement of the oil rig P is viewed Pmen

C A challenges Pm

C+V+O G (was) adopted Pm

C C V+O V+O C It (China‟s placement of the oil rig) Six-point Principle on the East Sea issue behaviour from Beijing It (behaviour from Beijing) other nations (other nations) China‟s act A A A A A Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm

C it (China‟s act) A Pm

taking C China A Pm build poses are working to finalise raises is attempting to materialise keep on (actions)

XXX

C China‟s actions Car Pr

be to C The question (about China‟s actions) Ver Pv

A A

O C C O C O C Car are needs answered is has committed complicate is not has approached can be stated are Pr Pm Pm Pr Pm Pv Pr This China China‟s acts It our neighbour (China) It such thoughts and actions

C+V+O the current mainstream goals A allow Pm

G Car

C+V V V V V C A Id A to be settled has to prove submitted proving occupied Pm Pr Pr Pm Pr Pm

holding of C Car is Pr

V V V C+V C C C C C C C A A A Car A A A Car A A G Pm Pm Pm Pr Pm Pm Pm Pr Pm Pm Pm disputes Vietnam (legal and historical grounds) Vietnam historical legal grounds it declaration China‟s sovereignty over the archipelago Vietnam (Vietnam) (Vietnam) the situation China (China) (China) (China) it (China) it The acts

(negative C A Pm The acts taken by China

C V V A Car A is doing to pursue to settle has grown has done to use to settle to turn agreed to do signed taken have effect) hurt is has (never) knelt Pm Pr Pm (The acts taken by China Vietnam The Vietnamese nation

XXXI

V V V V C+O C+O C V C down take measures to defend to safeguard is has to violate detecting approaching sent A A A Car Id A Sen A A Pm Pm Pm Pr Pr Pm Pmen Pm Pm

C A to lay Pm

bore down used to attack

C C C C C V V C+V C C V V C C C C V C C V V C C Vietnam (Vietnam) (Vietnam) national sovereignty No one (No one) (China) Vietnamese boats China (15 marine surveillance ships and semi-armed fishing vessels) the Chinese ships (the Chinese ships) (the Chinese ships) five maritime surveillance ships (five maritime surveillance ships) the ship's captain, Mr. Cao Duy (the ship) confrontation the Chinese ships Chinese ships (Vietnam vessels) the Vietnam Marine Police photographs and video clips Chinese ships (Chinese ships) (Chinese ships) three other Vietnamese China (ships and aircraft) the People's Army newspaper (the People's Army newspaper) Chinese vessels the number of Chinese vessels A A A A moved attacked A decided to use A to counterattack A Ex took place A withdrew prevented A doing A published A showing Id attacking A damaging A A injuring G were injured has increased A to protect A quoted S saying S A operating Car was Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Px Pm Pm Pm Pm Pr Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pv Pv Pm Pr

XXXII

C C V Id A Sen consisted are operating observed Pr Pm Pmen

C A flying Pm

C They (Chinese vessels) many Chinese aircraft The marine police forces two groups of Chinese military aircraft China A has expanded Pm

C+V Events leading to the current skirmish Ex began Px

leading to

C+V C C Events the oil rig and three oil service ships the oil rig Id A moved G was anchored Pr Pm Pm

C it A set Pm

C O V C C C V C prohibited A held G S confirmed A were operating are Car is violating A S demanded A withdraw Pm Pm Pv Pm Pr Pm Pv Pm

V voiced S Pv

V requesting S Pv (China) an international conference Vietnam the Chinese oil rig and ships China's actions China Vietnam China The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group)

C CNOOC A to cease Pm

C (CNOOC) A withdraw Pm

V Pham Binh Minh spoke S Pv

V (Pham Binh Minh) to voice S Pv

V Vietnam‟s Ministry of Foreign Affairs A met Pm

V A to hand Pm (Vietnam‟s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

raised O The U.S. and Japan S Pv

O (The U.S. and Japan) have (voice) asserting S Pv

XXXIII

Car A

C C O O C Sen A Pr Pm Pmen Pmen Pm China's actions a provocation This Many experts China's move

C Car Pr China

C C A Ex are is creating is considered believe exposes continued showing sending is standing Pm Px

V S said Pv

C C C V Ex Id A S Px Pr Pm Pv (China) the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig a senior official of the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force canvas sheets canvas sheets (Chinese military ships) Nguyen Van Trung

on C A Pm The ships

C V V C C V C C V V unveiled covering intimidating said kept approaching provoking A undertaking A S said A maintained Id S A Id S A including said has deployed including clarified approached Pm Pm Pv Pm Pr Pv Pm Pr Pv Pm

Surveillance V S Pv

C C C C V C A A A A S A to demand recall encircled rammed fired said rammed Pm Pm Pm Pm Pv Pm (The ships) Vietnamese forces Trung China 119 ships he China two more warships he Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance ships (Vietnam Fisheries ships) China many Chinese ships (many Chinese ships) (many Chinese ships) he Chinese ship

XXXIV

V it Car was (on duty) Pr

V Trung S Pv

C Chinese fishing vessels A Pm

said continued surrounding stayed to preserve said

V V V V V V V V Car A S G was constrained A was operating G were beaten G were destroyed is captured G Pr Pm Pv Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm

V A has exercised Pm the Vietnamese fishermen (the Vietnamese fishermen) Trung fishing boat QNg-90205-TS it Vietnamese fishermen their tools The Quang Ngai boat The Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force

V they A Pm

V V V C V S A S A Id continue providing said to ensure demands not to take back prescribed Pv Pm Pv Pm Pr

any other rigs

C A to create Pm areas belonging

C Trung (they) Vietnam China Vietnam‟s waters (dispatching to Vietnam‟s oil and gas Block 143 or any other to Vietnam‟s waters) (China) A dispatch Pm

V Le Hai Binh S has said Pv

V C C V S made (statement) A moved A S has placed recalled Pv Pm Pm Pv

C A have violated Pm

including

C C The spokesman China it Binh China‟s rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 and a large number of escort ships escort ships The rig‟s location Id Id was Pr Pr

XXXV

C C C A A A encircled rammed fired Pm Pm Pm

V A undertaking Pm

C C C V V V V C Chinese ships (Chinese ships) (Chinese ships) Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance vessels The actions by the Chinese side (The actions by the Chinese side) (The actions by the Chinese side) Vietnam (Vietnam) Binh Vietnam Haiyang Shiyou-981 A A A A A S S A injured caused sank has struggled to safeguard affirmed has affirmed has operated Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pv Pv Pm

V the area Car belongs to Pr

C Car are Pr

C A infringing Pm

including said

O V V O V V C V V C Id S A wishes to reach including Id noted S demanding S respect Sen confirmed S A defends A was moving Pr Pv Pm Pr Pv Pv Pmen Pv Pm Pm

C A were moving Pm

C C V V C+V Operations of the rig and escort ships of China (Operations of the rig and escort ships of China) international law the spokesman Vietnam international law Binh (Binh) China The spokesman Vietnam China‟s oil rig Haiyang Shiyou The rig and the fleet of nearly 60 escort ships it (the rig) Chinese ship 11209 Boat DNa 90152 it The incident Id was sank A G was encircled G was attacked occurred A Pr Pm Pm Pm Pm

XXXVI

C Ex is standing Px

from the Foreign V Id is Pr

V O China‟s Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig representatives Ministry All 10 fishermen This Pm Pr

been V Vietnamese fishing boats G Pm G were rescued is not have attacked

90205-TS‟s regular V G was disrupted Pm

V V V boat QNg operation Vietnamese fishermen their properties (the boat) G were beaten G were taken away G Pm Pm Pm

to V the boat A Pm

V V C V V V C C C C being assailed managed escape (managed to) get Rec said S Car cost G was chased G Sen A A A A (was) rammed suffering from dispatched positioned have rammed (have) fired Pm Pv Pr Pm Pm Pmen Pm Pm Pm Pm

V A are carrying out Pm

C V V A G G leaving damaged injured Pm Pm Pm

V A paid (a visit) Pm

(the boat) Quang the attack fishing boat QNg 96416-TS fishing boat QNg 96416-TS fishing boat QNg 96416-TS China China Chinese ships (Chinese ships) Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance ships (Chinese ships) many Vietnamese ships officers Liem and officials of the southern province of Binh Duong C+O many firms‟ operations

apologized said

V V V Liem He the province and the Ministry of G were affected S S A were deploying Pm Pv Pv Pm

XXXVII

V A Pm

to ensure pledges to take to ensure (pledges) to help resume said

are operating sustained

V V V V C+O V V V V C+O V C+O C+O C+O C+O S A A A A S Sen was assessing to offer A to help A resume A S said G were unaffected A Car A will resume Pv Pm Pm Pm Pm Pv Pmen Pm Pm Pm Pv Pm Pm Pr Pm

C+O S said Pv Public Security (the province and the Ministry of Public Security) Binh Duong Binh Duong (Binh Duong) (Binh Duong) them The official the province (the province) (the province) them Mr. Bui Manh Lan, 80% of the enterprises on his campus (80% of the enterprises) 35 companies in the park nearly 10 The general director of Bowker Vietnam Ltd.

O his company A Pm

O O O has been operating Sen trusts G was damaged resumed A Pmen Pm Pmen

O S said Pv

O O C+O C+O C+O C+V+O V V (his company) our factory we A representative of Yang Cheng Vietnam the company (the company) 65% of the enterprises Several other enterprises 50 percent of the factories tens of thousands of workers at least 950 people (at least 950 people) A was repairing to resume A have resumed A plan to operate A have returned A are Car accused Tar vandalizing A Pm Pm Pm Pm Pm Pr Pv Pm

XXXVIII

V V A G Pm Pm

V A Pm

V V V V (at least 950 people) (at least 950 people) Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang He local authorities (local authorities) those S A A A looting had been arrested paid (a working visit) instructed to investigate to prosecute took (the lead) Pv Pm Pm Pm

XXXIX

Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A critical discourse analysis of Chinese and Vietnamese online media coverage of the east sea dispute

NGUYỄN ĐẶNG MAI LINH

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60220201

HANOI, 2017

NGUYỄN ĐẶNG MAI LINH

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI, 2017

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation

Meaning

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the research

2. Scope of the research

3. Aim and objectives of the research

4. Significance of the research

5. Research methodology

6. Design of the research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND

ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES

2.1. The background to the event

2.2. Data collection

2.3. Research method

2.4. Data analysis procedure

CHAPTER 3: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ONLINE

NEWS ABOUT THE EAST SEA DISPUTE

3.1. Transitivity analysis

Figure 3: The distribution of processes in Vietnamese news and Chinese news

Figure 5: The distribution of Goals in the material processes

3.2. Overwording

PART C: CONCLUSION

1. A summary of the findings

2. Limitation and recommendation for further studies

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: THE 10-QUESTIONS MODEL OF THE DESCRIPTION STAGE (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001:92-93)

APPENDIX 2: CHINESE NEWS REPORTS

Recklessness on Vietnamese side in South China Sea must stop Source: news.xinhuanet.com/english BEIJING - The increasingly aggressive and dangerous acts of Vietnamese vessels against Chinese oil drilling in the South China Sea resulted in an unfortunate accident on Monday.

APPENDIX 3: VIETNAMESE NEWS REPORTS

Chinese ship sinks Vietnamese fishing vessel Source: en.vietnamplus.vn Chinese ship 11209 sank a Vietnamese fishing boat with 10 members on board in Vietnamese waters on May 26.

APPENDIX 4: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF

CHINESE ONLINE NEWS REPORTS

Participant

Role

Process

Process type

APPENDIX 5: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF

VIETNAMESE ONLINE NEWS REPORTS

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