The critical cognitive analysis of “hyper-securitization” strategy: A case study of China’s official discourse on the “Japan nuclear contaminated water discharge incident”

On August 24, 2023, Japan began discharging nuclear contaminated water into the ocean, drawing global attention. Environmental security, closely tied to human well-being, has become a critical issue in both academic and public discourse, particularly amid recurring challenges like climate change, water scarcity, and pollution. This study employs the proximization theory and its derivative theory of distanciation to conduct a critical cognitive analysis of “hyper-securitization” in environmental security discourse, using China’s official discourse surrounding the “Japan Nuclear Contaminated Water Discharge Incident” as the corpus. The analysis focuses on the discursive strategies employed by China before and after Japan’s discharge, revealing how these strategies aim to achieve the objectives of “hyper-securitization.” The discourse features identified in this study provide new perspectives for research on “hyper-securitization” in the fields of environmental security and international politics.