1、 Research background and issues

Since the 1990s, China has actively constructed a new type of international relations and steadily developed relations with Arab countries, making the Middle East an important geopolitical region. Economic cooperation between China and Arab countries is the key to deepening bilateral relations, especially in areas such as energy and weapons. The total volume of China Arab trade has grown significantly. China has put forward the "the Belt and Road" initiative to push economic cooperation into a new stage. As the mainstream media in the Arab world, Al Jazeera in Qatar has a large number of economic reports related to China, reflecting the high attention of Arab media to China Arab economic cooperation.

2、 Literature Review

Explored the interactive relationship between media and the real world, pointing out that media not only reflects social attitudes, but also influences reality through agenda setting. In the field of China related economic reporting, research is mainly divided into two paradigms: linguistics and communication studies. The linguistic paradigm reveals the ideological and cognitive orientation behind the reported vocabulary, sentences, and discourse through analysis. The paradigm of communication studies focuses on quantification and content analysis, exploring the characteristics and tendencies of media reporting. Although mainstream media in the Arab world have conducted relatively little research on China related economic reporting, existing studies have shown that these media outlets have both positive evaluations and attention to issues in China's economic development when reporting on China.

3、 Research Design and Methods

Explored the comprehensive and multi-level characteristics of China Arab economic cooperation and the challenges it faces, pointing out the possible biases of Arab media in introducing China's economic image. The study selected China related economic reports from Al Jazeera's Awen channel from 2015 to 2020 as samples and retrieved 498 news articles through the Factiva database. Using data analysis and text analysis methods, the aim is to reveal the quantity, themes, country involvement, and bias characteristics of the reports, agenda setting strategies, as well as the presentation of Chinese initiatives and values in the reports.

4、 Data analysis

Between 2015 and 2020, the number of economic reports related to China on Al Jazeera's Arabic channel fluctuated. In 2015, the highest number of reports was 123, followed by 98 in 2018. The frequency of reporting peaks in specific months, such as May and August 2015, which are respectively related to China's foreign economic and trade cooperation, investment, and stock market decline. From 2018 to 2019, the China US trade war became the focus of reports. The report covers multiple countries and regions, with 95.3% directly targeting China, with the United States being the second largest target of coverage. The overall bias of reporting is neutral and positive, with relatively few neutral reports in 2015 and 2016, and a stable and cautious attitude towards reporting from 2017 to 2020.

5、 Discourse analysis

An in-depth analysis was conducted on the reporting strategies and discourse characteristics of Qatar Al Jazeera's Awn channel on China's economic issues from 2015 to 2020. The reporting agenda of Al Jazeera mainly revolves around four aspects: changes in the RMB exchange rate, China's economic development, new economic formats in China, and the China US trade war. On the issue of RMB exchange rate, Al Jazeera has shown a cautious attitude towards China's policies, while also paying attention to the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the global market. In the report on the development of the Chinese economy, Al Jazeera emphasized the role of China's economic transformation and government reform, and gave a positive evaluation of the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, but also pointed out the problems in development, such as low wages and environmental costs. For the new economic formats in China, Al Jazeera has focused on the development of sharing economy, digital economy, and environmental protection economy, demonstrating a dialectical perspective. In the coverage of the China US trade war, Al Jazeera analyzed the reasons, positions, and impacts of the trade war, emphasizing the negative impact of the trade war on both sides.

6、 Conclusion

This study conducted a comprehensive investigation of the economic reports related to China on Al Jazeera's Arabic channel from 2015 to 2020 through data analysis and discourse analysis. Research has found that Al Jazeera's coverage density has increased during major economic events, with a relatively neutral reporting bias. In economic reports related to China, Al Jazeera presented multiple viewpoints, with a positive overall stance towards China and mixed reviews of specific events. Al Jazeera's attitude towards the "the Belt and Road" initiative has shifted from doubt and concern to understanding and support, fully affirming the spirit of reciprocity and goodness values displayed by China in events such as the COVID-19. However, the stigmatization of China by Western media has had a negative impact on the perception of Al Jazeera.