Linguistic analysis of the discourse of international relations in the internet space (based on user comments on Weibo and VKontakte)

AbstractThe research problem lies in identifying the linguistic specificity of the formation of international relations discourse in the digital environment, using Russian-Chinese interaction as a case study. The key contradiction is that the dominance of unified official narratives regarding the comprehensive strategic partnership encounters multidirectional and often conflicting user reactions in social media. The relevance of the work is driven by the increasing geopolitical significance of the Russian-Chinese partnership and the necessity of an academic shift from analyzing exclusively official rhetoric to studying user reactions, which shape the phenomenon of “people’s diplomacy” and objectively reflect real mass sentiments in both societies. The aim of the study is to identify and compare specific linguistic means and basic communicative strategies used by ordinary users of the national social networks Weibo and VKontakte to express evaluations and construct the image of bilateral relations. The empirical basis comprises a corpus of user comments collected from both platforms. The methodology is based on the integration of topic modeling, lexical-semantic analysis, linguoculturological analysis, and discourse analysis. The main results demonstrated fundamental differences: the discourse on Weibo is characterized by high homogeneity, a positive-mobilizational tonality, and the dominance of a solidarity strategy, while the discourse on VKontakte is heterogeneous and polemical, with a high proportion of direct criticism. The conclusion establishes that the collective identity of “strategic partners” is fragmented: the Chinese digital segment accepts and reproduces it, whereas the Russian segment actively contests it. The identified asymmetry is determined by a variety of linguocultural factors, platform moderation policies, and the current political and economic context.