本研究以英國《經濟學人》雜誌為例，探討西方媒體如何報導台海情勢。研究以 2021 至 2022 年台海情勢相關封面報導為分析主軸，並援引 van Dijk 和 Fairclough 的批判論述分析取徑，以及 Fiske 與 Hartley 的符號意義層次，分析報導如何透過文字論述與圖片符號合理化美國、中國或臺灣其中一方的權力。分析發現四個面向的論述操作：領導者及政權特質、現狀、軍事力量與戰爭後果。研究結論指出，《經濟學人》在文字論述及圖片符號中雖然將美國與臺灣劃分為「我方」，而中國為「他者」，但一再突顯臺灣的無力與中國的威脅，以合理化美國的權力，展現出新殖民主義的意識型態。

 This study takes the British magazine The Economist as an example to explore how Western media cover cross-strait issues and legitimize the power of the United States, China, or Taiwan. Drawing on van Dijk and Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and Fiske and Hartley’s orders of signification, the study analyzed The Economist’s cover stories about cross-strait issues from 2021 to 2022. The results indicated various aspects of discourse operation, including personality traits of leaders, characteristics of polities, the status quo, the comparison of military strengths, and possible consequences of a war. Through discourse operation and graphic signification, The Economist divided three sides into the United States and Taiwan as “us” and China as “others”. The magazine also repeatedly represented Taiwan as powerless and China as a powerful threat, thereby legitimizing the power of the United States in cross-strait issues, which displayed the ideology of Neo-colonialism.