Framing China’s climate action: a corpus-assisted discursive news values analysis in Chinese media discourse

Abstract China has garnered significant international attention due to its unique position in climate change, both as the world’s largest developing country and the largest major emitter. However, China’s climate action remains an underexamined topic in media studies. In the present study, we focus on the media presentations of China’s climate action framed by its state-controlled English media. By combining discursive news values analysis and corpus-assisted discourse analysis, the findings demonstrate that China’s leadership role is articulated as making proactive contributions to global climate governance, grounded in its acknowledgment of anthropogenic climate change and its commitment to the Paris Agreement. Such representations are predominantly constructed through Eliteness and Positivity, which reinforce China’s national image as a responsible and proactive major power. This study can deepen the understanding of the discursive relationship between language, news values, and media ideology in climate communication discourse.