China, A Rising Threat? : An Analysis of American Threat Perception of China in the 21st Century

Abstract: The United States is for the first time 100 years potentially facing a peer in the international Arena. China’s rise has been significant over the last 20 years, and they are now able to rival the United States in many areas. How then, will the long dominant United States react to the rise of China, how does it view it as a threat. Utilizing a content analysis approach including threat framing and assessment of threat perception intensity this study seeks to answer the question of how the United States view China as a threat. The result of the analysis indicates an intensification of threat perception of China over time, but then going down again. Obama had the lowest average intensity, trump the highest, and Biden somewhat lower than Trump. The results deepen our understanding of American threat perception and can allow for further research on the subject.