国家形象是国际舆论的一个表象，体现为国际社会在对某一事件阐释或解码后所表现出的观点与看法。本文通过对拉美15国报纸有关中日“购（钓鱼）岛争端”报道的内容分析发现，拉美报纸中的“中国国家形象”没有想象中的那么“正面”，而且相对日本的形象处于劣势。对钓鱼岛历史知识研究的不充分以及中国对日“购岛”的极富情感宣泄的话语传播方式成了这种“劣势”的主要原因。文章指出，要改善这种“劣势”处境，不仅要加强对相关历史知识的认真研究与传播，务实地强化自己的国际传播能力建设，而且更要熟悉国际政治和关系的游戏规则。

National image is a representation of the international public opinion presented by the international community after decoding the public event. After analyzing the contents of Latin American reports on Sino-Japanese conflict on Diaoyu Island, the article finds that Chinese national image is not so positive as imagined, even at a disadvantage when compared with that of Japan, and there exist the main reasons for this “not so positive”: for lack of sufficient and solid historical studies and diffusion of the related knowledge about Diaoyu and because of the populist and passionate discursive and expressive manner. It points out that in order to change such a disadvantage, it is necessary to make sincere investigations of the dispute and diffuse the related knowledge and at the same construct the international communicating capacity on the one hand and to skillfully follow the game rules of international politics and relations on the other.