Representation of the Russian scientific and technological sphere in the media discourse of the People’s Republic of China using the example of the “Science and Technology Daily” newspaper

The purpose of the study: to analyze the content and tone of media materials about Russia in Chinese media discourse, to understand what scientific and technological aspects of Russia are in the focus of Chinese media and to explain their actualization. The author of the article hypothesizes that the analysis of Chinese media discourse allows us to identify strategically important areas and identify trends in Russian-Chinese cooperation. Based on the results of a search query on the Knowledge Resource Library (CNKI) platform, from 43,300,000 results, the author selected text materials devoted to Russian science and technology in Chinese media. Based on the results of a search query conducted by the author on the Knowledge Resource Library (CNKI) platform, the study took into account 3,547 materials selected by the keyword “Russia” in the text or title of the material. The resulting material was ranked by the number of publications in various Chinese media. Based on the results of quantitative selection, the object of the study is publications in the Science and Technology Daily newspaper, which is the official mouthpiece of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China. The newspaper is an opinion leader in the field of scientific and technological innovation in China, has government resources, has a wide audience and is a convergent platform. The empirical basis of this study is 554 reports for the period from January 1, 2019, to December 1, 2023, in the “Science and Technology Daily” newspaper. The selected materials were subjected to content analysis. As a result, the author came to the following conclusions: The newspaper covers various Russia-related issues based on their news value; while negative coverage, although containing sharp articles, is handled in a relatively calm manner.