Analysis: How foreign media headlines reflect changing views of China

A review of foreign media headlines covering China's annual Two Sessions over the past two years reveals a notable shift. In 2025, headlines tended to frame China within a narrative of "confrontation, retaliation, and economic pressure." By contrast, headlines in 2026 more often place China in the context of "stability, communication, and risk management."

This shift suggests a recalibration in how foreign media frame China's role – from "a party in conflict" to "a key variable in global risk dynamics."

During the 2025 Two Sessions, foreign media's extensive use of conflict-oriented verbs became the defining feature of their China-related coverage. For instance, Associated Press (AP) wrote, "China will retaliate against US tariffs." Meanwhile, Reuters ran the headline "'Major powers should not bully the weak', China's foreign minister says", and emphasized in the lede that China would "resolutely counter" US pressure.

These headlines were not primarily written to convey the vision China aimed to project. Instead, they framed China in terms of how it was responding to pressure from the United States. Within this narrative, China appeared largely as a reactive actor in a cycle of back-and-forth confrontation.

Meanwhile, foreign media tended to frame China in terms of mounting economic pressure and tight political control. The British newspaper The Guardian wrote the headline "Tightly choreographed Two Sessions opens in Beijing as the world order roils." In its reporting on the 2025 Two Sessions coverage, the outlet also emphasized China's approaching to respond to tariffs, pressure on the export sector and signs of an economic slowdown.

Both the headline and lede framed China as a country operating under tight political control while facing both internal and external pressures.

However, coverage of the 2026 Two Sessions in foreign media reveals a noticeable shift in headline framing.

Two representative examples are a Reuters report titled "China says US talks vital as Trump targets Beijing's key partners," and an AP report, "China hopes 2026 will be a 'landmark year' for relationship with US."

Compared with 2025, the core verbs have shifted from "retaliate" and "counter" to "talk" and "hope" – a linguistic change suggesting an adjustment in how foreign media frame China's role. Rather than primarily portraying China as a retaliator, headlines increasingly depict it as a manager of relations, a communicator of risks and a participant in maintaining strategic stability.

Reuters' wording is particularly revealing. By describing "talks" as "vital," the headline goes beyond simply reporting China's statement and implicitly frames China as a stabilizing variable in the international landscape.

The shift in headlines is even more evident in coverage by the Associated Press (AP). In 2025, the AP's headlines focused largely on China "retaliating" against US tariffs. By 2026, however, the narrative has evolved into one emphasizing a "landmark year" for China–US relations.

This change suggests that the outlet's interpretation of China's diplomatic signals during the Two Sessions has also shifted: China should no longer be primarily viewed as a responder in a trade war, but rather as a country seeking to rebalance bilateral relations and expand space for high-level engagement.

Such shifts in foreign media's perceptions of China can be observed in three main aspects. First, from "retaliator" to "communicator." Headlines in 2025 tended to emphasize China's direct responses to US policies, with frequent use of confrontational verbs such as "retaliate" and "counter." In 2026, however, collaborative terms including "hopes" and "talks" have increased noticeably. This suggests that foreign media are beginning to view China less as an active player in confrontation and more as a negotiating party contributing to stability.

Second, from a "bilateral conflict framework" to a "global risk framework." In 2025, coverage tended to place China within narratives centered on the "China–US trade war" or "China's political system." By 2026, China is increasingly positioned within broader narratives such as global miscalculation, regional wars and international order. Notably, foreign media have increasingly linked China's statements to Iran, the Middle East and the global order, indicating that China is no longer viewed merely as a US rival, but as a key variable in addressing global risks.

Third, from a "rigid China" to a "strategically flexible China." Foreign media in 2025 often used expressions such as "tightly choreographed" to emphasize what they perceived as rigidity and closedness in China's political system. While such underlying perceptions have not disappeared in 2026, headlines increasingly highlight China's strategic flexibility: maintaining tough rhetoric on issues involving Iran and Japan, while emphasizing China–US communication, head-of-state interactions and efforts to stabilize relations.