Two Essays on the political economy of China-Asia relations

Abstract

This thesis consists of two studies on the political economy of China-Asia relations. The first chapter examines the effect of historical tributary relations on China’s modern trade. The second chapter investigates the dynamics of media reporting sentiment on China, specifically its determinants and how it has been affected by COVID-19. The first chapter investigates the effect of historical tributary relations between China and tributing nations on trade with China between 1981 and 2016. We find that a history of tributary relations significantly decreases modern trade volumes with China, both at the extensive margin, when comparing tributary countries with non-tributary countries; and at the intensive margin, where countries which have more tributary visits to China conduct significantly less modern trade with China compared to tributary countries with fewer visits. The second chapter examines media reporting sentiment towards China between 2019 and 2020, specifically its determinants and the effect of COVID-19. We find that countries which are more ideologically similar to China report more positively on China, adverse historical events have persistently negative effects on sentiment, privately-owned publications report more negatively on China, and an improve in a country’s trade position with China improves its sentiment on China. Most interestingly, we find that the onset of COVID-19 has significantly worsened the sentiment of non-COVID-related reporting on China, which suggests that overall sentiment towards China has worsened due to the pandemic.