A Comparative Study of Chinese and Japanese News Reports on Sino-Japanese Agreement on Fukushima Nuclear-Contaminated Water Discharge —A Critical Discourse Analysis

This study explored narratives of cooperation in international environmental governance through a Critical Discourse Analysis of Chinese and Japanese media reports on the agreement reached between the two countries regarding the oceanic discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water. This qualitative study combined Fairclough's three-dimensional model with van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach to analyze the linguistic devices, narrative structures, and ideological stances of relevant reports in China Daily and The Japan News. The comparative study revealed that China Daily emphasizes environmental security and multilateral cooperation through the narrative of China as a "responsible power," while The Japan News embeds this agreement within geopolitical contexts and focuses more heavily on the economic and diplomatic implications behind the agreement. These findings suggest that, even when constructing discourses of cooperation, media outlets adopt complex discursive strategies that reflect national socio-political priorities and serve national interests. This study provided a multidimensional perspective for discourse analysis of environmental diplomacy and offered insights into the challenges of cross-cultural communication in international environmental governance.