Abstract: One of the core questions of Country and Region Studies lies in how to realize the mutual reinforcement of knowledge and practice. Its policy-oriented practice aims to establish an effective connection between knowledge production, cognitive judgment, and action-oriented decision-making. Against this backdrop, this paper proposes a framework for analyzing country-specific discourse. It traces how core concepts evolve into discursive forms and become embedded in institutional arrangements, thereby shaping cognitive structures and policy formation. The framework highlights the mediating role of key concepts and their discursive forms between cognition and policy practice, thus supporting policy explanation, trend analysis, and discursive contestation. Using Europe’s “systemic rival” framing of China as a case, the paper demonstrates the empirical applicability of this approach. Overall, this theoretical and methodological exploration offers an operational pathway for linking knowledge production with policy practice, thereby enhancing the capacity of Country and Region Studies to inform national strategy.