In Search of Status: China and the USA in United Nations Speeches, 1970–2020

Abstract What is China’s status? The answer has major repercussions for China’s rights, responsibilities, and risk acceptance in international disputes. Although definitions of status are contested, there is broad agreement that it is socially constructed and relative to peer states, which makes measuring it difficult. We aim to address definitional and measurement problems by using text as data from United Nations General Debates speeches, 1970–2020. This allows one to see the language China uses to refer to itself, the language by which others refer to China, and how that compares to the USA. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that China is not more status obsessed than its peer, is not more status obsessed over time, and is not gaining in status over time. The implications for world politics are complex but suggest that status will not be a primary cause of conflict in the foreseeable future.