Dataset. China's Leaders Speeches and Joint Declaration 1997-2023

Abstract

The part introduces a method to measure political affinity through multilateral discursive power in formats such as FOCAC, China-ASEAN, China-CELAC, and China-Central and Eastern Europe. It argues that the Chinese discursive power measured by language receptiveness tests the degree of political affinity, which is the first stage in shaping future relations. The first part of the paper reviews the literature on China’s “solutions” and discursive power, and introduces the concept of multilateral discursive power. Based on the introduced framework, the second part presents the empirical approach: it first examines the qualitative dimension through an analysis of Chinese leaders’ speeches and signed joint documents narratives, followed by a quantitative comparative analysis of these texts. At its core, the paper evaluates the effectiveness of China’s multilateral discursive power by examining the extent to which its preferred narratives are reproduced or internalised within different regional frameworks. Then, as interpreted by the authors, examine discursive correlations that indicate how China assesses political affinity, enabling Beijing to classify regional formats as supportive, neutral, or oppositional in foreign policy orientation.