Recently, the paper A Decade of Evolving Sentiment on the Belt and Road Initiative in Elite Magazines, co-authored by Professor Yu Miaojie (Fellow of the International Economic Association, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Liaoning University), Professor Tariq H. Malik of Liaoning University, and Professor Hou Weizhong of California State University, USA, has been officially accepted and published in the internationally renowned journal China & World Economy.

Abstract of the Paper

This study adopts an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, encompassing media framing theory, agenda-setting theory, as well as economic and political dimensions, to conduct a sentiment analysis of 507 articles on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) published in four media outlets: The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Economic and Political Weekly. The research yields three key findings. First, overall coverage demonstrates high attention to and diverse interpretations of the BRI. Second, there are significant differences in reporting on the BRI between financial/economic magazines and political magazines: financial media hold a more positive attitude toward the BRI, while Western political media, possibly due to ideological factors, are rather critical. Third, a timeline analysis of reports from 2013 to 2023 reveals a growing diversity of voices in media coverage, indicating that as BRI projects advance, the resistance faced has been increasing. These findings provide an important perspective for understanding the evolving perceptions and attitudes toward the BRI in global media, and help deepen the understanding of how media framing, as well as economic and political factors, influence public perceptions and discussions of complex geopolitical projects. Looking ahead, the BRI will continue to serve as an important platform for promoting global connectivity and cooperation. In the process of advancing and improving itself, it will continuously demonstrate China’s commitment to the development concepts of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, as well as its proactive stance in taking responsibility and making progress together with the world.

Journal Introduction

China & World Economy is a comprehensive international academic journal in economics, sponsored by the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and supervised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It is recognized as an authoritative journal in the AMI Comprehensive Evaluation of Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences Journals and rated as a "China’s Most Internationally Influential Academic Journal" by CNKI. According to the 2025 Clarivate Analytics SSCI Journal Impact Factor, it has an impact factor of 3.6. The journal is committed to promoting international and domestic academic research on China’s economy and its interaction with the world economy. It has long adhered to summarizing China’s development experience, interpreting China’s development practices in depth using academic theories, empirical evidence, and international discourse, and contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to global development.

Author Profiles

Yu Miaojie, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Davis. He currently serves as a Deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, a Specially-invited Supervisor of the National Supervisory Commission, a Member of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress, a Member of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Liaoning University.

He is the first Asian Deputy Editor of the Economic Journal and a Fellow of the International Economic Association (IEA). His academic honors include being a Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor (2019), a recipient of the inaugural Youth Changjiang Scholar award (2015), a winner of the National Outstanding Youth Fund, a Beijing Outstanding Young Scientist, a Boya Distinguished Professor of Peking University, a Consultant to the Ministry of Commerce on economic and trade policies, a Director of the "China-US Research Think Tank Alliance" under the Ministry of Finance, an Honorary Professor of Irkutsk State University (Russia), and an International Advisory Council Member of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

He also holds leading positions in academic societies, such as Vice President of the China Society of World Economics, Vice President of the China Society of Quantitative Economics, Vice Chairman of the China Industrial Economics Association, Vice President of the National Association for Hong Kong and Macao Studies, and Vice Chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Federation of Social Sciences. He is a recipient of the Wong Ting Fong/Sino Land Young Outstanding Scholar Award and ranks among the top 1% most cited economists globally in management and economics. Notably, he is the only Chinese scholar to date to have won the "Royal Economic Society Prize".

Professor Yu has been engaged as an expert consultant by the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the Counselors' Office of the State Council, and multiple local governments. He was specially invited to deliver a report on China's economic development at the United Nations Headquarters and enjoys the special government allowance of the State Council.

His research focuses on international trade and China's economic development. He has published nearly 200 papers in top-tier domestic and international journals, including Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Economic Research Journal, and Management World. He has also authored 27 monographs, textbooks, and essay collections in Chinese, English, and German.

He serves as Deputy Editor of the renowned international academic journal Review of International Economics, Honorary Editor-in-Chief of the Ministry of Commerce's International Trade, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Liaoning University and Japanese Studies, and Executive Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Chang'an University.

His academic achievements have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award in Philosophy and Social Sciences from the Ministry of Education (three times), the Outstanding Achievement Award in Philosophy and Social Sciences from Beijing, the Wu Yuzhang Award for Humanities and Social Sciences, the Zhang Peigang Award for Development Economics, and the An Zijie Award for International Trade Research (five times). His representative work, Processing Trade and Enterprise Productivity, has won the Liu Shibai Economics Award, the Hu Sheng Youth Academic Research Award, the National Trade Development Research Award, the China Youth Economist Award, and the Achievement Award of Liaoning Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences.

Tariq H. Malik, Professor, holds a Ph.D. in Management from the University of London, UK. He serves as Director of the International Center for Organization and Innovation Studies (ICOIS) at the Business School of Liaoning University.

His main research focuses on innovation and technology policy in the field of organization and management. He has written reviews for most management and innovation journals and won the Best Reviewer Award at major management conferences. Meanwhile, he acts as an external reviewer for institutions in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, and China.

He has published articles in journals such as Research Policy, Technology Forecasting & Social Change, and International Business Review. He teaches courses including research methodology theory and management theory (including international comparisons), and is a foreign teacher deeply loved by Chinese students.

He was a visiting scholar at the University of London, UK from 2011 to 2013, a visiting scholar at Purdue University, USA from 2011 to 2012, and a visiting scholar at King's College London, UK from 2012 to 2014. He also serves as an anonymous reviewer for journals including Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Research Policy, International Business Review, and R&D Management.

Jack W. Hou, Ph.D. from Yale University, USA, is a Professor in the Department of Economics at California State University, Long Beach. He has served as President of the Chinese Economic Society (CES), President of the Western Economic Association International (WEA), Co-Editor of the leading international academic journal Contemporary Economic Policy, and Associate Editor of Economic Modelling. He has also acted as Guest Editor for several prestigious academic journals on multiple occasions and serves on the editorial boards of numerous academic journals.

His research areas include the Chinese economy, labor economics, international trade and finance, and economic history, with a recent focus on environmental and sustainability economics, as well as financial turbulence detection. He has published over 70 papers in top international academic journals such as Economic Journal and has participated in the compilation of several monographs.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cwe.12600