Fight over Realities - A rhetorical analysis of the communication of China and Taiwan about the 2019-2020 Hongkong protests

Abstract

Communicating with an international audience is vital for any country’s image and diplomatic work, especially if a government is involved in a conflict. In Taiwan’s and China’s case, swaying the global community to either side can mean emerging as the winner or loser in the Cross-Strait issue. This thesis examines the two government’s communication with the outside world and aims to understand their intentions, strategy, and goals. To achieve that, this work studies the debate over the 2019-2020 Hongkong protests on the social media platform Twitter. Using rhetorical analysis as a tool, it concludes that the two governments repeatedly construct realities for their audience, in which they are the morally good ones who are worth supporting in this conflict.