War Metaphors in COVID-19: Analysis of Similarities and Differences in Descriptive Frames of Chinese and American Leaders on Epidemic Spread

ABSTRACT

Based on the speeches of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on COVID-19, this paper analyzes the war metaphors of the two heads of state for COVID- 19 and related epidemic prevention work. This paper compares the war metaphors Trump and Xi Jinping use for COVID-19 from the three concepts of ＂enemy,＂ ＂soldier,＂ and ＂victory＂ and finds that Trump and Xi Jinping have a completely different understanding of the war against COVID-19. These differences will be attributed to the different Framing of the two leaders.