ABSTRACT

This book studies Indonesian and Philippine English-language printed media outlets to examine how regional public opinions of China and China-made vaccines progressed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

By quantifying the presence of certain words, themes, and concepts within the qualitative, textual data of news articles from the most prominent English newspapers in Indonesia (i.e. The Jakarta Post) and the Philippines (i.e. The Philippine Daily Inquirer), the book investigates the trajectories of the regional narratives on Chinese vaccines, Beijing, and China. Through this same methodology, the book also explores indications of the degree of soft power exerted by Beijing through such media outlets in both Indonesia and the Philippines.

Analysing how Sino-Southeast Asian relations changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of international relations, media studies, and Asian politics.