The Evolution of the EU External Perceptions Project: 2002-2012 1 st Asia-Pacific comparative project (2004-2006) Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand Europe in the Eyes of Asia (ESiA) (phases I, II and III) (2006-2010) Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines After Lisbon: The EU in the Eyes of Asia Pacific (2011-12) Japan, South Korea, mainland China, India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Russia EU perceptions in NZ (2002-ongoing) Perceptions of the EU as a Developmental Actor: Pacific, South and East Africa, South East Asia (2007-08) Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, South Africa, Kenya, Thailand
Project partners Sponsorship: Project leaders: The European Studies in Asia (ESiA) network is coorganised as a partnership between the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE). Dr. Natalia Chaban, National Centre for Research on Europe Prof. Martin Holland, National Centre for Research on Europe Asia-Europe Foundation Research Teams: Fudan University (Mainland China) Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong SAR) Keio University (Japan) Waseda University (Japan) National University of Singapore (Singapore) Korea University (South Korea) Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) Vietnam National University (Vietnam) Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia) Ateneo de Manila University (The Philippines) University of Malaya (Malaysia) Universidade de Macau (Macau SAR) Jawaharlal Nehru University (India) Tsinghua University (Mainland China) Monash University (Australia) University of Canterbury (New Zealand)
An Innovative Internationally Respected Project. Approach is intentionally and necessarily interdisciplinary Combines renowned and early-career scholars Creates an ongoing collaborative platform for other areas of cooperation research, theses, mobility, exchanges Multinational comparative approach that cannot be realised through just a national framework Generates policy-relevant outcomes
An Innovative Internationally Respected Project. TIME FRAME METHODOLOGY PERCEPTIONS EEAS BASELINE ARAB SPRING AND SOVEREIGN DEBT
The latest phase of the EU perceptions project: After Lisbon 2011-12 1,335 208 3,000 480 1,055 804 587 897 1. Media stage: January-June 2011 (9, 356 news items) 2. Elite interviews: July December 2011 3. Public Opinion survey: January 2012 518 472
Project Heroes
The EU as a Global Power: Still a Work in Progress? Media Coverage & Framing of the EU in 2011 7 July 2011 Loke Hoe Yeong EU Centre in Singapore Li Zhang University of Nottingham
Selected News outlets in Singapore Type of News outlets Selected outlets Publication day Popular daily Lianhe Zaobao Daily Business daily Englishlanguage daily The Business Times The Straits Times Daily except Sunday Daily TV news Channel 8 Daily at 10pm
Selected News outlets in China (Mainland) Type of News outlets Selected outlets Publication day Popular daily People s Daily Daily Business daily English-language daily TV news International Finance News China Daily CCTV1 Daily Daily Daily at 7.00pm
VOLUME - no. of news items SINGAPORE CHINA Total Monthly average Weekly average Total 1055 176 41 Popular daily 250 42 10 Business daily 526 88 20 Englishlanguage daily 244 41 9 TV news 35 6 1 Total Monthly average Weekly average Total 1335 223 52 Popular daily 486 81 19 Business daily 398 66 15 Englishlanguage daily 387 65 15 TV news 64 (5 months) 11 2 NB. Averages rounded off to nearest whole number
Coverage of EU, US, China and India (January - June 2011) Popular daily & TV news SINGAPORE CHINA Popular daily TV news Popular daily TV news (5 months) EU 250 35 US 3274 263 China 4710 391 India 368 39 EU 490 64 US 1984 253 China N/A India 393 8
Sources of EU news SINGAPORE CHINA 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Popular daily Business daily English-language daily 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 TV news
Themes SINGAPORE CHINA Environment 2% Environment 3% Development 2% Social 7% Political 17% Social 13% Political 29% Economic 74% Economic 53%
Intensity of EU coverage SINGAPORE CHINA major 25% major 31% minor 49% secondary 26% secondary 14% minor 55%
Evaluation SINGAPORE CHINA 100% 100% 90% 90% 80% 80% 70% 70% 60% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Negative Neutral Positive 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Negative Neutral Positive
Visibility Faces of the EU
SINGAPORE EU officials 1.Jean-Claude Trichet 2.Jose Manuel Barroso 3.Catherine Ashton 4.Herman van Rompuy CHINA EU officials 1.Catherine Ashton 2.Herman van Rompuy 3.Jose Manuel Barroso 4.Jean-Claude Trichet Member state officials 1.Angela Merkel 2.Nicholas Sarkozy 3.David Cameron Member state officials 1.Nicholas Sarkozy 2.Angela Merkel 3.David Cameron
Visibility EU institutions
Visibility EU institutions SINGAPORE 1.European Central Bank / ECB 2.European Commission 3.European Parliament 4.European Court of Justice (tied) 4.European Council (tied) 6. EU Delegation to Singapore 7. Hungarian EU Presidency CHINA 1.European Commission 2.European Central Bank / ECB 3.European Parliament 4.European Council 5.EU Delegation to China 6.European Court of Justice 7.Hungarian EU Presidency
Visibility EU member states
SINGAPORE 1.Germany 2.Greece 3.Ireland 4.Portugal 5.France 6.Spain 7.Italy 8.UK CHINA 1.Germany 2.UK 3.France 4.Greece 5.Spain 6.Portugal 7.Ireland 8.Italy
SINGAPORE: Characterisations of EU - Most common: 1) eurozone debt woes/ contagion 2) Trichet / ECB as a hawk - Most exotic, if negative: EU as global pygmy
Most commonly used images: euro sculpture in front of ECB building, Frankfurt & Trichet
China: Characterisations of EU Economic news - focusing on Eurozone debt crisis: ECB=Boat, President of ECB=Steersman, Estonia as bride Raising interest rates=double-edged sword Situation in Portugal, Finland, Ireland, Greece=new injury and traditional illnesses Portugal=EU's peripheral nerve tissue, Spain=a member of the EU central nervous system Italy and Spain=the domino block GERMANY AS THE EU'S PERSONAL TRAINER = Germany to play a bigger role in motivating the EU
Most commonly used images:
China: Characterisations of EU EU-China relations: EU - CHINA RELATIONS AS A TREE = our evergrowing political mutual trust // I wish the friendship tree between the Chinese and European young people be evergreen EU-China relations as Tree = We are planting seeds of future cooperation
Most commonly used images:
Most commonly used images:
Summary Volume: 176 VS 223 /Month Sources: International wires VS local correspondents Evaluation: Neutral/negative VS Neutral/positive Theme: Economic/Political Face of the EU: Trichet VS Ashton EU Institution: ECB VS EC