From the analyzed texts, which dealt with Chinese investment, 71 percent were coded as neutral, 22 percent articles were coded as negative, while only eight percent of articles covered the topic positively. While in 2017, only 14 percent of articles on Chinese investment were negative, in 2020 the share of negative articles has basically doubled (28 percent). At the same time, the positive coverage of Chinese investment increased until 2019, when the positive share was at its highest (10 percent) and then sharply dropped to a mere two percent a year later. 

The sharp drop in positive coverage of Chinese investment can be attributed largely to a domestic political change in Slovakia in early 2020. Until March 2020, Slovakia was ruled by a governing coalition with SMER – Social Democracy, known to take on pro-Chinese positions in foreign affairs, repeatedly lauding the potential of Chinese investment in Slovakia. The new government of Slovakia, by contrast, has taken a more skeptical view.  Taking power after the February 2020 general election, the right-of-center political parties forming the governing coalition are comparatively less enthusiastic about potential Chinese investment in Slovakia and have been known to raise concerns over potential security risks connected to them.

The most frequently covered topic by the media was Chinese investment in Slovakia, or lack thereof. Some 38 percent of articles focused on this topic. The second most frequent topic was Chinese investment in the EU, followed by infrastructure. The top 10 most frequent topics also included Chinese investment in the neighboring Czechia, technology, the auto industry, mergers and acquisitions, BRI, security, and Eastern Slovakia.

A little over one-quarter of articles were merely taken over by the media from various press agencies.

Altogether, we have identified 359 people who were in some capacity quoted in articles dealing with Chinese investment. Slovaks represented 40 percent of quoted persons. The remainder of those quoted by the media were of foreign origin, chiefly from the Czech Republic, China, the USA, and Germany.

China’s presence in 5G network construction is a relatively new topic in Slovak media discourse, as it started to appear only in 2018. While the number of articles published in 2018 has been low, it is still notable that there were no negative articles published that year. A significant majority of the 2018 coverage was neutral (88 percent), while 12 percent of articles were positive. Only two years later, in 2020, the situation was significantly different – some 12 percent of articles published were negative, while only 3 percent of articles on China and 5G had a positive narrative (remainder were neutral).

A vast majority of articles discussing Chinese involvement in the 5G networks naturally focused on the two main Chinese suppliers of the technology – Huawei and ZTE. This topic was raised in 85 percent of all articles. Among the remaining topics making the top 10 list, articles focused on Chinese espionage, national security, US-China conflict, cybersecurity, Chinese Communist Party and its regime, trade war, Huawei’s and ZTE’s competitors (Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung), critical infrastructure, and human rights.

Almost one-half of all the pieces discussing China and 5G originated from press agencies. The Slovak media chiefly rely on TASR, the Slovak public press agency, followed by the local private agency SITA. Interestingly, the Czech press agency ČTK is also one of the sources, although to a lesser extent.

On the topic of China and 5G, 275 people were quoted in articles on China and 5G. Slovaks accounted for only 21 percent of citations. Slovak voices on China and 5G did not even achieve the highest share in the discourse, as US agenda setters provided 27 percent of quotes. Besides Slovaks and Americans, voices from China, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Czech Republic featured prominently. 

The low presence of Slovak voices in China-related topics, especially on 5G – a crucial topic from both security and economic viewpoints – points to a larger problem. Slovakia is facing a prolonged problem with brain drain, which naturally impacts also the field of China watching. As a result, Slovakia lacks enough domestic expertise to be able to develop both a domestic discourse on China as well as a substantial public discussion on challenges posed by China and Slovak response to them.