The Evolution of the Public Discourse Landscape on the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, "Cultural Discount" and the Negotiation of Meaning

Abstract

As a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” (hereinafter referred to as CPEC) has achieved significant economic and social outcomes after more than a decade of construction. At the same time, a transnational public opinion dynamic has emerged around CPEC, with the Pakistani public exhibiting a complex attitude characterized by a blend of “significantly increased favorability” and “limited trust in Chinese media.” This tension reveals deep-seated issues in the cross-cultural communication surrounding CPEC—namely, how is meaning constructed, eroded, and renegotiated within the current pluralistic public opinion environment and amid cultural differences? This paper employs literature review, theoretical deduction, and textual case analysis to systematically examine the internal logic of CPEC’s cross-cultural communication. The study argues that the evolution of the CPEC public opinion ecosystem is driven by diverse factors, and its communication faces a triple “cultural discount” in terms of language, values, and politics. Furthermore, Pakistani audiences do not passively accept the message but instead engage in preference-based, negotiated, and confrontational forms of decoding within a complex, multi-layered information environment; the resulting negotiation of meaning is the most effective mode of communication.