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estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 10, n. 2, (jun. 2022), p. 96-117
Critical Discourse Analysis and Lexical
Semantics: An Interdisciplinary Interpreting
of the US and China Defense White Papers
Análise Crítica do Discurso e Semântica Lexical: Uma
Interpretação Interdisciplinar dos Livros Brancos de Defesa
dos EUA e da China
Análisis Crítico del Discurso y Semántica Lexical: Una
Interpretación Interdisciplinaria de los Libros Blancos de
Defensa de EEUU y China
Karina Coelho Pires1
Rafaela Araújo Jordão Rigaud Peixoto2
DOI: 10.5752/P.2317-773X.2022v10.n2.p96
Recebido em: 04 de novembro de 2021
Aprovado em: 05 de dezembro de 2022
ABSTRACT
There have been new facets of multilateralism, which have motivated the rea-
lignment of traditional power relations established globally, especially regarding
the United States and China. This new strategic environment can be observed in
changes made to the Brazilian National Defense White Paper (LBDN) of 2020,
as well as in the dialectic between white papers of the United States (2017),
and China (2019). To investigate these realignments and their possible impacts
on the Brazilian defense sector, the analysis was carried out in two phases: (1)
analysis of the general characteristics of the Defense White Papers by the USA
and China; and (2) comparison of discourses conveyed in chapters on interna-
tional cooperation in each Defense White Paper. Speech patterns were analyzed
according to rationales of Lexical Semantics and Critical Discourse Analysis. As
a result, elements of semantic elds, intertextuality and modality in discourse
were pointed out as parameters that could contribute to the evaluation of coo-
peration and deterrence/dissuasion actions to be adopted by the USA and China
in the 21st century.
Keywords: Identity; Defense Studies; Critical Discourse Analysis.
R
Novas facetas de multilateralismo emergiram e motivaram o realinhamento de
tradicionais relações de poder estabelecidas globalmente, principalmente entre
os Estados Unidos e a China. Esse novo ambiente estratégico pode ser observa-
do nas mudanças feitas no Livro Branco de Defesa Nacional do Brasil (LBDN)
1. PhD in Portuguese Language from
the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao
Paulo (PUC-SP). Professor at the Air
Force University (UNIFA). E-mail: karina-
coelhopires@gmail.com. ORCID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0002-1445-4885
2. Postdoctoral Researcher in Corpus
Linguistics at the University of Sao Pau-
lo (USP), and PhD in Language Studies
from the Pontifical Catholic University
of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). Researcher
and Translator at the Department of
Airspace Control (DECEA), and Professor
at the Air Force University (UNIFA).
E-mail: rafaela.peixoto@gmail.com.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
3504-8405
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Karina Coelho Pires, Rafaela Araújo Jordão Rigaud Peixoto
Crical Discourse Analysis and Lexical Semancs: An Interdisciplinary Interpreng of the us and China Defense White Papers
de 2020, como também na dialética entre os Livros Brancos dos Estados Unidos
(2017) e da China (2019). Para investigar esses realinhamentos e seus possíveis
impactos no setor de defesa brasileiro, a análise foi realizada em duas fases: (1)
análise das características gerais dos Livros Brancos de Defesa dos EUA e da
China; e (2) comparação dos discursos apresentados em capítulos sobre coope-
ração internacional em cada Livro Branco de Defesa. Os padrões de discurso
foram analisados conforme os arcabouços teórico-metodológicos da Semântica
Lexical e da Análise de Discurso Crítica. Como resultado, elementos de campos
semânticos, intertextualidade e modalidade no discurso foram apontados como
parâmetros que poderiam contribuir para a avaliação das ações de cooperação e
deterrência/dissuasão a serem adotadas pelos EUA e pela China no século XXI.
Palavras-chave: Identidade; Estudos de Defesa; Análise de Discurso Crítica.
R
Nuevas facetas de multilateralismo han surgido y han motivado el realineamien-
to de las tradicionales relaciones de poder establecidas globalmente, principal-
mente entre Estados Unidos y China.Este nuevo entorno estratégico se puede
observar en los cambios realizados en el Libro Blanco de Defensa Nacional de
Brasil (LBDN) de 2020, así como en la dialéctica entre los Libros Blancos de
Estados Unidos (2017) y de China (2019).Para investigar estes realineamientos
y sus posibles impactos en el sector de defensa brasileño, el análisis se realizó
en dos fases: (1) análisis de las características generales de los Libros Blancos
de Defensa de Estados Unidos y de China;y (2) comparación de los discursos
presentados en capítulos sobre cooperación internacional en cada Libro Blanco
de Defensa.Los patrones de discurso fueron analizados conforme los marcos
teórico-metodológicos de la Semántica Lexical y del Análisis de Discurso Críti-
co.Como resultado, elementos de campos semánticos, intertextualidad y moda-
lidad en el discurso fueron apuntados como parámetros que podrían contribuir
para la evaluación de las acciones de cooperación y deterrencia/disuasión a ser
adoptadas por EEUU y por China en el siglo XXI.
Palavras clave: Identidad; Estudios de Defensa; Análisis de Discurso Crítico.
INTRODUCTION
In recent decades, the world has witnessed the unfolding of new
facets of multilateralism, which have motivated the realignment of tradi-
tional power relations established globally. In this context, the Asian con-
tinent stands out as the main motivator of this realignment, particularly
regarding the relationship between countries in this geographical place,
and the United States (US) and China.
Whereas the US and China have great economic and political in-
uence nowadays, it is essential to understand their context of global action
in the eld of defense and international cooperation, with the purpose of al-
lowing Brazil to anticipate strategies to deal with new multilateral contexts.
In this sense, it is necessary to go through a more complex and de-
tailed analysis about stances shown in the White Papers published by the
US and China, with interdisciplinary contributions, in order to expand
perceptions that may be relevant for the performance of the Brazilian
Defense sector.
According to these assumptions and based on methodological ra-
tionales of critical discourse analysis and lexical semantics, this paper
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aimed at identifying defense approaches adopted by the US and China,
according to the publicized in their White Papers, dated 2017 and 2019,
respectively. To this end, the analysis unfolded in two phases: (1) analysis
of general characteristics of Defense White Papers by the US and China;
and (2) comparison of discourse conveyed in chapters on international
cooperation in each Defense White Paper, in addition to Closing remarks
on both White Papers.
1 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DETERRENCE/DISSUASION: A
GEOPOLITICAL PANORAMA
One of the purposes of the International Relations eld is to analyze
the world scenario regarding the hierarchical classication of great and me-
dium powers. Among the various thinkers who dedicate themselves to the
interpretation of phenomena on the international stage, some defend Eu-
rocentric perspectives and, more recently, the possible emergence of a Chi-
nese School of International Relations is argued (Cf. CUNHA et al, 2018).
In this sense, this article seeks to contribute to an understanding
of the quest for the position of power of the US and China within the
international system in the 21st century, taking into account the Chinese
rise and the decline of the US in this century. We understand that the US,
aiming to maintain its world hegemony, intends to control the Chinese
economic strengthening. China, for its part, opposes hegemonism and
power politics, by declaring its military power and development as a bal-
last for peaceful development.
Within this panorama, Nogueira (2019) argues that there is a Chi-
nese economic leadership and a US military supremacy, so there is not
only one hegemonic state, but two states that would concentrate much of
the international power.
Therefore, it is necessary to describe how some forms of coopera-
tion are made evident in the discourse. For this reason, as a way to bring
a broader context to the debate, we present some visions of cooperation
and deterrence in the international relations of the US and China, star-
ting with the South China Sea, a current hotspot of dispute.
The South China Sea is a semi-enclosed marginal sea, which is part
of the Pacic Ocean and comprises China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Viet-
nam, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, having access through the Malacca
Strait and the Taiwan Strait. Due to its geological formation, it has oil and
natural gas deposits in its bed, although still dicult to explore; in addi-
tion to being one of the most important trade routes in the world. These
factors have led, in recent decades, to increased claims for portions of the
South China Sea.
Aguilar and Fakhoury (2019) state that the disputes surrounding
the South China Sea not only involve countries claiming territory in this
eld, but also the two major world powers and international and regional
organizations, as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In
this sense, countries involved in the conict have signed agreements in
order to increase their military power in relation to China and/or dissua-
de more aggressive Chinese posture.
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The authors highlight the position of some countries such as: India,
which has a medium- and long-term strategy of making its defense indus-
trial base self-sucient; Japan, which outlined in its Defense Plan (2013)
the acquisition of new war materials (destroyers, submarines, unmanned
aerial vehicles, ghter planes and new helicopters) until 2019; and Austra-
lia, which publicized in its 2009 defense document their intent of moder-
nizing and strengthening its naval forces (air defense, strategic attacks,
special forces, intelligence, Ultramarine and Antarctic warfare force).
Regarding India, which has rivalry with China and Pakistan, re-
lations with Japan have been established and there has been integration
with the Indian Ocean Rim Countries Association (IOR-ARC). As for Ja-
pan, it is opposed to Chinese growth and has maintained relations with
the US since the end of WWII with the guarantee of stability provided
by them. Australia, also supported by the US since the end of WWII, is a
member of a security alliance that encompasses Australia, New Zealand
and the US, although China is a major trading partner to Australia.
When considering the South China Sea as a strategic point for the-
se three countries, Aguilar and Fakhoury (2019) say that any threat to
this point, however distant, is seen as a threat close to the security and
interests of the three countries. Thus, freedom of navigation has been
defended and the Chinese stance of aggression has been condemned.
Vietnam, after problems with China due to the 2014 Oil Platform
Crisis, has increased its defense cooperation policies since the late 1990s,
when it became a member of ASEAN, strengthening relations with India
on security issues, establishing a Strategic and Extensive Partnership for
Peace and Prosperity in Asia with Japan, and building strong ties with
the US on bilateral defense relations. Therefore, Vietnam primarily has
defensive purposes, but its policy of alliances is related to the increasing
Chinese assertiveness in the region.
Malaysia also maintains defense agreements with strategic part-
ners, eg with the US, but it also conducts military exercises with China
and India. The protection of Malaysian interests is ensured through an
agreement involving Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United
Kingdom, as well as an agreement with Brunei to resolve border dispu-
tes. The Philippines have cooperation agreements with China, but gua-
rantees the US rotational access to military bases in the country. And
Taiwan has a treaty with the US to defend the country in the event of an
external attack, although it is engendering eorts to integrate with the
Chinese economy. Besides the relationship with these countries, China
also fosters interaction with African countries for both economic and de-
fense matters.
As can be seen, the South China Sea has strategic dynamics invol-
ving several actors with particular interests in the region, and there have
been moves by the US and China, with policies of deterrence in the re-
gion, as opposed to eorts of other countries to establish strategic part-
nerships in defense, to protect their claims against Chinese growth.
On the other hand, in the Korean Peninsula, dened by its stra-
tegic condition of “outpost between great powers” (SARAIVA; AMA-
RAL, 2019, p. 18), cooperation is bringing together the Democratic Peo-
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ple’s Republic of Korea and the US. This is a US foreign policy strategy
for East Asia and the Middle East, to increase control over global oil,
and the long-term growth conditions of China and other rising Asian
powers.
Regarding cyberspace, an analysis by Maier (2018) on the US policy
for this sector during the Obama and Trump administration highlighted
international cooperation. The US sought leadership in the cyber eld
through multilateral environments, but also, at the same time, launched
cyber espionage operations against its partners, which countered multi-
lateral rhetoric and unilateral and aggressive action.
In this eld, China has established a policy of space cooperation
(CEPIK, 2011), aimed at increasing Beijing’s international inuence wi-
thout other major powers overreacting, as a way to postpone possible
militarization of space, and also seek to build partnerships with regional
countries still beginning space projects, as in the case of Latin America
(CUNHA et al, 2018).
In view of this, we emphasize it is essential to note that a rigid
categorization of actors favorable or contrary to country X or Y is insuf-
cient to understand the reality of cooperation and deterrence/dissua-
sion issues. Some institutions called think tanks, particularly in the US,
work to encourage Sino-American relations on some topics, although
they maintain dierent positions regarding other points (PONTES,
2020). In Brazil, the think tank called Brazilian Center for International
Relations (CEBRI) also acts to encourage discussion about global inter-
dependence and demystify biased positions. In the US, China is recog-
nized as important for the maintenance of the great American strategy.
To understand this interrelation, it is necessary to address concepts of
identity and hegemony.
2 IDENTITY AND HEGEMONY: PERSPECTIVES ON WESTERN AND
EASTERN WORLDS
One of the concerns of the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is in-
vestigating how the discursive clash between identities occurs. The hege-
monic struggle over identication modes consists of a struggle between
stabilization and destabilization of identity constructions. Fairclough
(2003) states that identication should be understood as a dialectical pro-
cess in which discourses are inculcated into identities, since identication
presupposes representation, in terms of presumptions, about what one
actually is.
The concept of Hegemony adopted by the CDA is the one con-
ceptualized by Gramsci and used by Fairclough (2016): “hegemony” is
characterized as leadership and as domination in the economic, political,
cultural and ideological domains of a society, that is, the dominance exer-
cised by the power of a group over others.
In this research, identity, as aligned with Cultural Studies, is consi-
dered as “the source of meaning and experience of a people” (CASTELLS,
2018, p. 54). Thus, we discuss the formation of identity in the contempo-
rary political, economic and social scenario, and the armation of an
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identity as part of a chain of denials, dierences, and armations, or a
chain of denials about other identities (SILVA, 2014).
In this sense, concepts of identity and dierence are mutually de-
termined, as acts of linguistic creation: they are constructions of the so-
cial world, actively produced in speech, in texts and interactions. As they
are symbolic constructions, Silva (2014) states that they are subject to po-
wer relations and struggles for their redenition. In other words, identity
is constructed from dierence, the perception of oneself and the other,
and the exclusion of the other, by valuing the self to the detriment of the
other (WOODWARD, 2014).
Along with this perspective, it is important to highlight that domi-
nant cultures tend to project their own interpretation of other cultures.
As Said (1990) explains, the Western identity became stronger precisely
through its contrast with the Eastern identity, which used to be conside-
red a sort of second-class society. Even nowadays sometimes interactions
with citizens from the “Eastern world” are highly impacted by cultural
simulacra (Cf. PEIXOTO, 2019).
From this perspective, we will look at the dialogue between the US
and China Defense White Papers as a dialectical construction of identity
and dierence.
3 METHODOLOGY
In this paper, the methodology was carried out in two phases: (1)
analysis of general characteristics of Defense White Papers by the US and
China; and (2) comparison of discourse conveyed in chapters on inter-
national cooperation in each Defense White Paper, namely Chapter VI
“Actively Contributing to Building a Community with a Shared Future
for Mankind” (pages 42 to 51) in the Chinese document, and Pillar IV
“Advance American Inuence” (pages 37 to 54) in the US document, in
addition to “Closing remarks” in both White Papers.
As mentioned before, the discourse patterns were analyzed ac-
cording to methodological rationales of lexical semantics (L’HOMME,
2020; PEIXOTO; PIMENTEL, 2020) and critical discourse analysis (FAIR-
CLOUGH, 2003), aligned with perspectives of international cooperation
and deterrence/dissuasion (CUNHA et al, 2018; AGUILAR & FAKHOU-
RY, 2019), and identity and hegemony (CASTELLS, 2018; SILVA, 2014;
WOODWARD, 2014; SAID, 1990).
Concerning the lexical semantic approach, semantic labels were
created to express how lexical and semantic contents are related in the
specialized discourse in the eld of International Relations. As a full ex-
tensive lexical semantic analysis would be too long for this paper, the use
of this rationale intended to oer an overview of discursive approaches,
so the selected terms and their corresponding semantic labels are presen-
ted in Section 5 and briey discussed in subsections 6.1 and 7.1. As for the
critical discourse analysis, the theoretical and methodological assump-
tions are introduced in the following section and more broadly discussed
in analyses of subsections 6.2 and 7.2 later in this paper.
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4 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (CDA)
The studies of discourse and identity serve as a basis for the in-
vestigation of the constructions of identities in the discourses in general
and, in this article, specically in the discourses presented in the White
Defense Documents of China and the US. By highlighting our interest in
language and its complex relationship with society, we characterize our
research as discursive analysis.
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is at the center of the search for
understanding the construction of meanings, the relations between lan-
guage and society. For this reason, this theoretical aspect is the means by
which we conduct the processes of reection and analysis on the identity
presented by China and the US in their defense books in relation to per-
formance and global cooperation. The CDA contributes to debate issues
related to control, power and institutional manipulation, providing, as
stated by Magalhães (2005), theoretical and methodological contributions
to interpret and explain language in socio-historical contexts.
Thus, through the notions of ideology, identity, power and hege-
mony, it is possible to understand the discourse as a reproducing and/or
producing social inequalities and struggles for power. In this sense, CDA
assumptions are related to assumptions of the Social Sciences, in order to
study language as a social practice.
When we understand that the discourse reects social standards,
we see that the discourse will reect and reproduce the transformations
that occur in society (Cf. NOGUEIRA, 2019). Therefore, the analysis of
texts produced in the eld of defense, particularly the Defense White Pa-
pers by China and the US, are relevant contributions to understand the
global scenario of defense policies.
This production of meaning interwoven in the social process is
characterized as an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theoretical-
-methodological approach. In this sense, Fairclough (2003) points out that
speeches are part of social events, such as part of a White Paper on Na-
tional Defense. For the author, the discourses have causal eects, among
which the most prominent are the ideological eects: sustain or even
change ideologies and identities.
In his 2003 work, Fairclough proposes to analyze the three ways in
which discourse gures in social practices: gender, discourse and styles.
The actional meaning is associated with the concept of gender, as ways
of acting and interacting in social events; the representational meaning,
to the concept of discourse, as ways of representing dierent aspects of
the world in a particular way; the identicational meaning, the concept of
style, as ways of being, of identity construction, that is, the way in which
people identify with each other.
Based on a textually-oriented analysis, Fairclough (2003) propo-
ses to investigate the constitution of meanings in discourses from the
perspective of Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL). Then we chose to
analyze the ways in which discourse gures in social practices, especially
the way of being, intertwined with the identicational meaning, since we
are interested in the way in which China and the US identify with each
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other. The identicational meaning of discourse relates to the process of
constructing identities, referring to the way of being or to the identities
in their linguistic and semiotic aspects. For Fairclough (2003), the way
the individual writes reveals who he is, and how people identify and are
identied by others.
Styles are manifested through dierent linguistic characteristics
such as pronunciation, intonation, accent, rhythm, vocabulary and meta-
phor. For Fairclough (2003), the categories of analysis that can be associa-
ted with the identicational meaning are modality and evaluation, which
we use in this research and we will further discuss.
The modality (if what is said is true/necessary/possible) is seen as
the way in which people engage when making statements, questions, of-
fers or demands, as there are dierent ways of making a statement, a ques-
tion, a demand and a supply, which materialize dierent commitments.
Modality is important in the structuring of identities, since the way a per-
son engages in social interaction is a signicant part of what (s)he is.
To analyze evaluation in discourse, we used the appraisal category,
through the system proposed by the Sidney School of SFL. This category
analyzes what concerns the speaker’s impressions regarding dierent
aspects of the world, what pleases or dislikes him/her, what (s)he con-
siders relevant or not and is materialized in textual traits as statements
of appraisal, statements with deontic modality (obligation) or statements
with verbs of aective mental process and presumptions of aective
value.
According to this theoretical perspective, in any text, the author
must indicate his/her level of commitment to what is being stated, as a
modality feature. For Halliday (1985), modality must be considered from
intermediary levels ranging from absolute assertion to absolute negation.
In a dierent direction, Fairclough (2016) considers both assertion and ne-
gation to be part of a categorical modality; and he also adds another dis-
tinction: objective and subjective modalities. In the objective modality, it
is not clear-cut if the statement would be (a) a point of view of the author;
(b) a universal perspective of the author’s point of view; (c) another indivi-
dual’s point of view just presented by the author; or (d) the point of view
of a group. In the subjective modality, it is made clear by the author that
the point of view expressed is his own.
By using the appraisal analysis in CDA, we can systematically show
how readers and listeners are dynamically positioned before seemingly
neutral statements, in a negative or positive way. In the analysis, we prio-
ritize the attitude subsystem, because we understand attitudes occupy a
central place in the appraisal process, being able to reveal the types and
levels in which appraisal is developed and expressed in discourse (AL-
MEIDA, 2010).
5 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF U.S. AND CHINA WHITE PAPERS
To best understand the context in which ideas of international coo-
peration were expressed in the two White Papers, a previous analysis
of the whole text is carried out, then the selected chapters are analyzed
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more thoroughly in terms of a general outline and a general terminologi-
cal prole of the documents.
The general terminological discourse pattern of both texts, regar-
ding the whole document, are described in Figure 1, as follows:
Figure 1. General terminological profile of the U.S. and China White Papers and main
relevant words in each document
SOURCE: Authors’ own elaboration.
For this analysis, terms were selected according to statistical built-
-in standards of AntConc software (ANTHONY, 2018), which ranks most
frequent terms based on the relevance of its relation to other frequent
words in the document. In addition to that, terms which did not have
contextual signicant meaning were also disregarded, as in the case of
‘states’ (for the US document) and country names, as ‘China’.
After the selection of the 10 most frequent and relevant terms in
each chapter analyzed in the US White Paper and in the China White
Paper, the three most relevant collocates (called ‘combinatorics’ in the le-
xical semantic theory) were retrieved and classied according to semantic
labels created, as shown below:
Table 1. Semantic labels attributed to occurrences related to the selected terms
01 Activity It refers to an action of execution or implementation.
Eg: ‘~ dialogue’
02 Application It refers to an applied material or financial resource.
Eg: ‘~ access’
03 Asset It refers to an available potential resource.
Eg: ‘~ potential’
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04 Association It refers to the interrelation between two elements, in an associative or cooperative way.
Eg: ‘~-terrorism’
05 Characteristic It refers to an intrinsic characterization, generally attributed by an adjective or adjective phrase.
Eg: ‘aspiring ~’
06 Characteristic /
Association
It is a label that combines the labels CharaCteristiC and assoCiation.
Eg: ‘~ channels’
07 Characteristic / Type It is a label that combines the labels CharaCteristiC and type.
Eg: ‘~ strategy’
08 Circumstance It refers to a physical or contextual circumstance for or during a given situation.
Eg: ‘~ stagnation’
09 Location It refers to the location of a facility or activity.
Eg: ‘across the ~’
10 Location / Reference It is a label that combines the labels LoCation and referenCe.
Eg: ‘~ offices’
11 Management It refers to the management or planning of some action or activity, or to an entity that is in charge of
managing it.
Eg: ‘institutional ~’
12 Principle It refers to a principle of general nature, which is common sense.
Eg: N/A
13 Purpose It refers to a direct or indirect purpose for the accomplishment of something.
Eg: ‘~ ministers’
14 Reference It refers to an entity, namely referred to or in comparison to something.
Eg: N/A
15 Related Term (RT) It refers to two terms that are directly related in discourse. This label is commonly associated with
other labels.
Eg: N/A
16 RT / Activity It is a label that combines the labels reLated term and aCtivity.
Eg: ‘~ and political challenges’
17 RT / Asset It is a label that combines the labels reLated term and asset.
Eg: ‘~ and open seaways’
18 RT / Association It is a label that combines the labels reLated term and assoCiation.
Eg: ‘allies and ~’
19 RT / Circumstance It is a label that combines the labels reLated term and CirCumstanCe.
Eg: ‘~ turbulence and instability’
20 RT / Principle It is a label that combines the labels reLated term and prinCipLe.
Eg: ‘[shared] ~ and way of life’
21 Scope It refers to the scope of some activity or its influence.
Eg: ‘~ trade organization’
22 Scope / Normative It is a label that combines the labels sCope and normative.
Eg: ‘~ law’
23 Type It refers to the type or category of a given item. This label is commonly associated with other labels.
Eg: ‘trading ~’
24 Type / Purpose It is a label that combines the labels type and purpose.
Eg: ‘border ~’
25 Variation Factor It refers to a variation factor of spatial or quantitative nature.
Eg: ‘dozens of ~’
SOURCE: Authors’ own elaboration (based on PEIXOTO; PIMENTEL, 2020)
All combinatorics related to the 10 selected terms in each chapter in
the U.S. and China White Papers are presented and discussed in subsec-
tion 6.1, as follows, and in subsection 7.1.
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6 U.S. DEFENSE WHITE PAPER
6.1. Lexical semantic analysis
Figure 2. Lexical semantic patterns of terminology in the US Defense White Paper
SOURCE: Authors’ own elaboration.
Words used in the US document are more related to political in-
tent, by mentioning ideal principles which should be followed by Huma-
nity, as in the case of ‘citizens and ~’ and ‘principle of national ~’. In this
way, possible negative attitudes, such as threats, are also contrasted with
this perspective, as in the case of ‘terrorist ~’. The overall approach is
assuming a collective perspective to needs of the world, in a way it can be
addressed by US policies, including defense policies.
This U.S. discursive approach is more thoroughly debated in sub-
section 6.2, as follows.
6.2. Critical discourse analysis
The title of chapter IV, “Advance American Inuence”, highlights
the approach the chapter will develop. The term ‘inuence’ refers to the
action that someone or something has towards something else, namely
power, control or authority. Thus, when we say that one person has an
inuence on others, it means that (s)he serves as a model or that (s)he
interferes with other people’s way of acting or thinking. The particular
structures of the relations between the senses of a word are forms of he-
gemony. For Fairclough (2016), hegemonies are produced and reproduced
in speech.
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Thus, the title presupposes some ‘inuence’ exercised by the US,
which should be expanded. The choice of the objective modality, in the
chapter’s title, allows partial perspectives (particular discourses) to be
universalized, to generate an eect of universalization of the perspective
(discourse) defended in the text: the ‘inuence’ of the US on the world
stage. In addition, the commitment to the expansion of such inuence is
also reected.
Subsequently, the text positively evaluates the ‘inuence’ of the US
in the world: “America’s Inuence in the world as a Positive force” and
corroborates the intention of expanding its inuence on the world sta-
ge: “This Administration has the Condence to compete to Protect our
values and interests and the fundamental Principles that underpin them.”
Chapter IV starts with the following statement: (1) “Above all, we
value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person,
and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. What is who we are.”
(UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 37). This excerpt (1) presents
a presumption of value, which reveals how the document presents the
US. In the passage, a categorical modality is, once more, chosen: “What
is who we are”, which allows the idea to be universalized and taken as
truth. Thus, it is taken as true, considering the statements “value the Dig-
nity”, “Protect the Rights” and “share the Hope”, which point to the idea
that the US follows a democratic rule of law, because the values presented
are principles of the democratic rule of law.
Later, excerpt (2) is presented: “Around the world, nations and in-
dividuals admire what America stands for. We treat people equally and
value and uphold the rule of law.” (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
2017, p. 37), and rearms the positive assessment of the US position in
the world, as well as the characteristic attributed to the US and positively
evaluated: “uphold the Rule of law”.
During the Cold War, a totalitarian threat from the Soviet Union motivated the
free world to create coalitions in defense of liberty. Today’s challenges to free
societies are just as serious, but more diverse. State and non-state actors project
inuence and advance their objectives by exploiting information, democratic
media freedoms, and international institutions. Repressive leaders often collabo-
rate to subvert free societies and corrupt multilateral organizations. (UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 37).
In excerpt (3), the document points to a threat during the Cold
War, the Soviet Union, and states that coalitions were formed to defend
freedom – an evaluative presumption that regards the Soviet Union as a
repressive nation. Then the passage points to today’s challenge: they are
repressive leaders who want to subvert free societies and corrupt multi-
lateral organizations. In other words, the passage makes a negative asses-
sment of some world leaders (repressive) who try to make other nations
repressive and still evaluates some multilateral organizations as corrupt.
In this way, two threats are identied: repressive leaders and corrupt mul-
tilateral organizations.
In the following paragraph, the text makes a further positive as-
sessment of the US: “We lead by example”. Implicitly, this valorous pre-
sumption points to an opposition between leading by force vs. leading by
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example: (4) “We are not going to impose our values on others.” (UNI-
TED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 37).
Next, when making use of the categorical modality, excerpt (5)
makes a positive evaluation of the coalitions that were established with
countries that, jointly, hold more than half of the world’s GDP, and that
no adversary will be able to establish such successful coalitions: (5) “Toge-
ther, the United States and our allies and partners represent well over half
of the global GDP. None of our adversaries have comparable coalitions”.
(UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 37).
At the end of the rst section of the analyzed chapter ends, Ameri-
can values are defended again:
We will continue to champion American values and oer encouragement to tho-
se struggling for human dignity in their societies. There can be no moral equiva-
lency between nations that uphold the rule of law, empower women, and respect
individual rights and those that brutalize and suppress their people. Through our
words and deeds, America demonstrates a positive alternative to political and
religious despotism. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 38).
The passage also presents a positive assessment of the US stance in
defending the rule of law and its principles, and makes a negative asses-
sment of states that do not respect the principles of the democratic rule
of law. Finally, it presents the US as a positive alternative against political
and religious despotism.
In the topic called “Encourage Aspiring Partners”, there is a positive
assessment of the US performance in relation to partners, by classifying
it as “unprecedented and Exceptional”, particularly mentioning regions
and countries beneting from the American coalitions: Western, Central
and Eastern Europe; and South Korea and Japan. These coalitions are
emphasized in the discourse of the US White Paper, which presents con-
temporary challenges of these partnerships, as highlighted below:
Today, the United States must compete for positive relationships around the
world. China and Russia target their investments in the developing world to
expand inuence and gain competitive advantages against the United States.
China is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure across the globe. Russia,
too, projects its inuence economically, through the control of key energy and
other infrastructure throughout parts of Europe and Central Asia. The United
States provides an alternative to state-directed investments, which often leave de-
veloping countries worse o. The United States pursues economic ties not only
for market access but also to create enduring relationships to advance common
political and security interests. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 38).
There is a discourse on the competition for positive coalitions on
the world stage, opposing alleged state interests of Russia and China, to
declared US free-market interests. Here, the deontic modality, expressed
in “must compete for Positive relationships around the world”, reveals
the high degree of commitment to the obligation to compete on the
world stage in search of spaces, which are being disputed by China and
Russia. In opposition, the US is assessed positively by establishing coali-
tions to establish lasting relationships and ensure political and security
interests for all parties.
In the next excerpt, characteristics that the US expects from its
allies are highlighted, based on criteria for the country to establish al-
liances:
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The United States will promote a development model that partners with coun-
tries that want progress, consistent with their culture, based on free market prin-
ciples, fair and reciprocal trade, private sector activity, and rule of law. […] Unlike
the state-directed mercantilism of some competitors that can disadvantage
recipient nations and promote dependency, the purpose of U.S. foreign assistance
should be to end the need for it. The United States seeks strong partners, not
weak ones. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 38-39).
Thus, these criteria are evaluated positively to the detriment of
the interests of “some competitors”, who, as stated in the text, practice
mercantilism and want to disadvantage their allies by making them de-
pendent.
Concluding the section, a niche including Africa, Latin America
and Asia is indicated, to be explored in the endeavor to expand the market
for US companies. A positive assessment of the US initiative is made in
terms of investments, as opposed to a negative assessment of what it calls
“authoritarian states”, classied as corrupt businessmen, and of opaque,
exploitative and low-quality nature:
The United States and its partners have opportunities to work with countries to
help them realize their potential as prosperous (…) American-led investments re-
present the most sustainable and responsible approach to development and oer
a stark contrast to the corrupt, opaque, exploitive, and low-quality deals oered
by authoritarian states. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2017, p. 39).
Based on the analysis carried out, the following characteristics
of the discursive construction conveyed in the U.S. White Papers are
highlighted:
Figure 3. Characteristics of the discursive construction conveyed in the U.S. White
Papers
SOURCE: Authors’ own elaboration.
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To deepen the understanding of these outstanding characteristics,
particularly regarding the intersections with hegemony and identity, it
is possible to cite the debate of Castells (2018) about the loss of inuence
of the nation-state and the prosperous advance of global capitalism. The
author claries that the US, due to the issues presented at the beginning
of the 1990s, joined the global trend towards a multilateral system of
international administration. However, this occurred through asym-
metrical multilateralism, where veto power over common policies was
maintained.
In addition, the author points out that global security for the US,
a factor that assumed greater importance after the attacks of September
11, 2001, depends on the cooperation of governments around the world.
During that period, the country oered Russia and China an agreement
to help defend the US and, in return, they would have a prominent
place in the world that was being reformulated, with expectation of US
hegemony. Castells (2018) calls the US the last sovereign nation state.
In relation to identity, it is necessary to remember that the mea-
nings produced by representations project the senses that we give to our
experience and to what we are. Thus, representation, understood as a
cultural process, establishes individual and collective identities, guaran-
teeing the inuence of hegemonic culture. For example, on the cultural
scene, Castells (2018) states that although Hollywood lms and rock mu-
sic continue to be inuential, opinion polls show growing discomfort
towards the US. At the same time, we are witnessing the increasing ad-
vance of Korean culture, with Hallyu, deconstructing North American
hegemony on the cultural scene.
As demonstrated in the text of the US White Paper and in the dis-
cursive analysis discussion, we observe the US attempts to assert the pri-
macy of an identity, to guarantee its hegemony in the face of the growing
context of the globalized world and of shared governance.
In this sense, the US White Paper on Defense not only places Russia
and China as devalued opposition, but also claims an extremely positive
US identity. In this way, the construction of this identity is linked to so-
cial and material conditions, with Russia and China marked as enemies.
The expected eects of such an identity process, according to Woodward
(2014), are the exclusion and material disadvantages of the enemy.
And Castells (2018) emphasizes that new power relations should
be understood as the ability to exercise control over global instrumental
networks based on specic identities, or rather from the perspective of
global networks, to subjugate identities for the achievement of transna-
tional goals.
In view of these arguments, we agree with Castells (2018) when he
stresses that the stability of what he calls the “networked state” depends
on the loss of individual sovereignty. The assertion of sovereign rights by
some would be contradictory to the proposal of a globalized world, and
could lead to a crisis of global governance.
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7. CHINA WHITE PAPERS
7.1. Lexical semantic analysis
Figure 4. Lexical semantic patterns of terminology in the China Defense White Paper
SOURCE: Authors’ own elaboration.
The terminological patterns shown in this gure indicate a more
governmental perspective, by specically referencing military semantic
frames, i.e. occurrences related to the term ‘military’, as well as hierarchi-
cal conceptual representations, related to the term ‘level’, as in occurren-
ce ‘mid-and-junior ~ ocers’.
Similarly to the US White Paper, China also has many references to
issues that are common interest to many nations in the world, as ghting
terrorism and contributing to peacekeeping operations (as referred to by
the term ‘troop contributing ~’). However, the Chinese approach empha-
sizes compliance with procedures that are jointly debated by internatio-
nal institutions and non-governmental organizations. When referring to
the term ‘cooperation’, occurrences such as ‘~ within the framework of
the SCO’ and ‘win-win ~’ presupposes some sort of contestation regar-
ding unilateral practices which would mostly serve hegemonic countries
or blocs. This is also corroborated by expressions containing the term
‘international’ and ‘development’, which emphasize compliance with
principles of global governance.
These ndings are more detailed in the critical discourse analysis
carried out in the next subsection.
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7.2 Critical discourse analysis
Regarding the title of the chapter of the China Defense White
Paper analyzed in this research, “Actively Contributing to Building a
Community with a Shared Future for Mankind”, the term ‘contributing’
indicates the perspective of cooperation, for the implementation of the
proposed defense policy. The use of the adverb ‘actively’, particularly
from the perspective of the modality, reveals a high commitment to the
act of contributing. Thus, China clearly demonstrates its commitment
to cooperation with a ‘Shared Future’, referred to by Castells (2018) as
‘shared governance’.
The rst paragraph of that Chapter is as follows:
Building a community with a shared future for mankind conforms to the trends
of the times for peaceful development, and reects the common aspirations of
all peoples throughout the world. China’s armed forces have responded faithfully
to the call for a community with a shared future for mankind. They are actively
fullling the international obligations of the armed forces of a major country,
comprehensively promoting international military cooperation for the new era,
and striving for a better world of lasting peace and common security. (PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 2019, p. 31).
In this excerpt (10), the text presents two categorical and objective
modalities, when it states that the ‘Shared Future’ is a trend of peaceful
development times, which reects the common aspirations of all the peo-
ples of the world. Thus, the use of such modalities tends to universalize
the perspective presented in the discourse. Later, in the same excerpt,
the high commitment to a ‘Shared Future’ is ratied by modulating the
verb ‘reply’ (“responded Faithfully”) and by modulating the verb ‘fulll’
(“actively fullling”).
Then the section title “Resolutely Upholding the Purposes and
Principles of the UM Charter” presents modality, once again, by the use
of the adverb ‘resolutely’, to positively evaluate the purposes and princi-
ples of the UN.
The rst paragraph of the section lists a number of positive asses-
sments of China’s conduct towards the UN, and all evaluations are su-
pported by modality through the use of adverbs, which reveals a high
commitment to action, as in occurrences ‘unswervingly endorses’, ‘reso-
lutely upholds’, ‘rmly maintains’, ‘participates extensively’, and ‘actively
engages’, as shown in excerpt (11):
As a founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member of the
UNSC, China unswervingly endorses the central role of the UN in international
aairs, and resolutely upholds international law and the basic norms governing
international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Char-
ter. It rmly maintains multilateralism, advances democracy in international
relations, participates extensively in global security governance, actively engages
in arms control and disarmament, and endeavors to oer Chinese proposals for
resolving major issues and formulating important rules. (PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA, 2019, p. 31).
This excerpt also emphasizes their eorts to participate in dialo-
gues on issues important to the world, oering Chinese proposals. In the
following paragraph, positive evaluations refer to China’s performance in
some specic cases:
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China has played a constructive role in the political settlement of regional
hotspots such as the Korean Peninsula issue, the Iranian nuclear issue and Syrian
issue. China opposes hegemony, unilateralism and double standards, promotes
dialogues and consultations, and fully and earnestly implements UNSC resolu-
tions. China has actively participated in multilateral dialogues and negotiations
on cyberspace and outer space, and pushed for the formulation of widely accep-
ted international rules that are fair and equitable. (PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA, 2019, p. 31).
This action is evaluated as having been a constructive action in the
question of the Korean Peninsula, in the Iranian question and in the ques-
tion of Syria; and is opposed to actions carried out according to the con-
venience of interests of other countries, with unilateralism and double
standards. Such actions are evaluated negatively, as they were carried out
in disagreement with guidelines and clauses of UN treaties. In addition,
there is also a positive assessment of China’s performance in cyberspace
and outer space, as a way of trying to propose international rules that are
favorable to all parties.
In the section entitled “Building a New-Model Security Partner-
ship Featuring Equality, Mutual Trust and Win-Win Cooperation”, the
text presents a number of existing military agreements and partnerships,
and makes a positive assessment of the country’s willingness to cooperate
militarily with the whole world to ensure world security and peace. The
China-Russia relationship is particularly highlighted and evaluated posi-
tively, as important for maintaining global stability, as it is intended to be
a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for a new era”.
Then, the positioning in relation to the US is evaluated positively,
based on a non-confrontational attitude; through coordination, coopera-
tion and stability actions with the US. At the same time, it makes a negati-
ve assessment of the US stance towards Taiwan by stating its opposition to
The Wrong Practices and provocative activities of the US side regarding Arms
Sales to Taiwan, sanctions on the CMC Equipment Development Department
and its leadership, illegal entry into China’s territorial waters and maritime and
air spaces near relevant islands and reefs, and wide-range and frequent close-in
reconnaissance. (PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 2019, p. 32).
In addition, the Chinese White Paper’s speech also positively
evaluates China’s relationship with neighboring countries, specically
those that make up the ASEAN bloc, as well as the Chinese relationship
with countries in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the
South Pacic. Towards this direction, excerpt (14) suggests China’s eort
to promote more transparent debate on defense actions, by expanding
“mechanisms for information release”, and convening press conferences,
as highlighted below:
China’s armed forces work to improve mechanisms for information release to
comprehensively and objectively explain China’s national defense and military
development to domestic and international audiences. In April 2011, China’s
MND started to convene monthly press conferences to release important infor-
mation on national defense and the military. Since 2012, multiple thematic press
conferences have been held to brief on important events such as national defense
and military reform and downsizing the PLA. The MND has organized multiple
visits to and interviews with PLA units and academic institutions for nearly 100
domestic and foreign media. Since they were launched in May 2015, the ocial
Weibo and WeChat accounts of the MND Information Oce have attracted over
6 million followers. (PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 2019, p. 34).
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The following sections “Building a Regional Security Cooperation
Architecture”, “Properly Coping with Disputes over Territory and Mari-
time Demarcation” and “Actively Providing International Public Security
Goods” positively assess, respectively, China’s relations with neighboring
countries towards regional cooperation; the use of diplomacy for the pea-
ceful settlement of disputes over South China Sea territory towards coo-
peration for regional security; and the contributions of China in partner-
ship with the UN to the guarantee and maintenance of peace, by sending
troops and carrying out various investments.
At the conclusion of the chapter, the White Paper of China raties
the convictions about the shared future for humanity and emphasizes
being an alternative to hegemonic attitudes. In this last paragraph, the
categorical modality highlights China’s high degree of commitment to
the realization of what they call “Chinese Dream of national rejuvena-
tion”, declaring that they have military capabilities to prevail over all the
threats and challenges that may arise for the realization of such a dream.
Based on the analysis carried out, the following characteristics
of the discursive construction conveyed in the China White Papers are
highlighted:
Figure 5. Characteristics of the discursive construction conveyed in the China White
Papers
SOURCE: Authors’ own elaboration.
China’s conception of a shared future of Humanity converges with
Castells’ argument (2018) about the rst years of the 21st century, about
the emergence of new organizational forms, new procedures for taking
power and new principles of legitimacy. The globalization of economic
activities, media, crime, social protest and terrorism has weakened the
instrumental capacity of the nation-state.
China arms its high degree of commitment to the shared futu-
re, standing against hegemony, unilateralism and the attitude of conve-
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nience. In this context, under the perspective of Castells (2018), the US
would be the main challenge for multilateralism, given the unilateralism
manifested in its environmental policy, in trade negotiations and in the
incentive to wars.
Just as the US points to China and Russia as current threats, China
also points to the US as its enemy, and declares willingness to cooperate,
manage peace, maintain dialogues with all regions of the world, clearly
defending the Chinese perspective of maintaining multilateral interac-
tions as a necessary mechanism to maintain the balance of the world.
Another interesting point is that the US White Paper identies
“corrupt multilateral organisations” as another possible threat to the US.
It is important to recall that, after the Iraq War, the US came to question
the United Nations-centered international governance system, due to the
resistance of the Security Council majority to the US unilateral decision
to attack Iraq. China, on the other hand, has made a number of positive
assessments of the UN and has declared its high degree of commitment
to multilateral organizations, primarily the UN system.
FINAL REMARKS
The analysis of the selected chapters contained in the US Defense
White Paper and the China Defense White Paper allowed us to identify a
linguistic resource called intertextuality. This resource seeks to be a sort
of bridge between two discourses, by using a source text as reference,
i.e. the creation of a text based on another previous one. In this sense,
the Chinese Defense White Paper makes use of the reference “American
Dream” in their own Chinese document.
The American Dream is understood as the proposal that the US
would be the “land of opportunity”, a country where anyone who is pre-
pared and willing to work can be successful. Americans take pride in this
neoliberal concept that is densely rooted in their culture, and value hard
work, determination, and the ability to be successful and become rich.
The Chinese Dream, on the other hand, is dened as aiming at inter-
national peace and development, in an international order that would be
fairer and more reasonable, by oering guarantees, interdependence and
defense of common interests, in order to reduce the conicts of the world.
Thus, when taking into account the initial statement of the Chine-
se document, that “the world is moving towards building a community
with a shared future for humanity, with times of peaceful development,
reecting the common aspirations of all peoples throughout the world”,
the Chinese Dream would be the armation of “new times” as opposed
to the “old times” of the American Dream. It is important to highlight,
though, that it was not aimed at making comparisons or identifying theo-
retical similarities and distinctions between the American Dream and the
Chinese Dream, but just pointing out how, linguistically speaking, the
Chinese White Paper makes use of intertextuality to replicate the Ameri-
can discourse, then create a counternarrative.
The dialectic of the ideas proposed by both Defense Books is cente-
red on a perspective of cooperative eorts for the common good. Howe-
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ver, it is urgent to highlight that the denition of “common interests” can
be inuenced by specic interests. In this way, the understanding of this
reference can vary greatly and take on possible meanings of preserving
the planet from a global warming process; avoiding global epidemics such
as COVID-19; preserving nancial stability; protecting the world from
crime and terrorism; preserving peace, or eradicating hunger. Thus, we
agree with Castells (2018), who state that the denition of what exactly
constitutes a public good, which becomes the goal of this “shared future”,
is, per se, a power relationship.
In both documents, published by the US and by China, categorical
and objective modalities are identied. For Fairclough (2003), if a text pre-
sents a high density of categorical and objective modalities, the conveyed
nuances aimed by this text is the universalization of its perspective, whi-
ch is tacitly taken as true.
Therefore, as defended by Resende and Ramalho (2016), if a text
presents a large quantity of categorical modalities (which entails great
commitment by the author), and mostly objective modality (without
objective foundation for commitment), there is universalization of the
perspective of the discourse uttered by the author. Universalization, as
explained by Thompson (2011), is the modus operandi of ideology. For
this author, it is through this strategy that institutional agreements ser-
ving personal interests are presented as if they were serving collective
interests. These are therefore strategies to establish or sustain power, as
defended by Thompson (2011), because the meaning of the discourse may
serve to establish or maintain relations of domination.
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