A contrastive ecological discourse analysis of the General Debate statements by the US and China at the United Nations General Assembly (2017–2020)

Abstract

Abstract This article adopts an ecolinguistic approach to study the thematic choices in the General Debate statements by the US and China at the United Nations General Assembly (2017–2020) to reveal the eco-characteristics of the two countries’ thematic choices and their impacts on the constructions of international relations. Findings suggest that, from the perspective of ecosophy, a significant proportion of the US’s thematic choices are destructive to international relations, while China’s thematic choices are mostly beneficial and ambivalent. The US’s thematic choices are frequently used to portray “us versus them” and “America first”, which displays a message of egocentrism instead of ecocentrism. China’s thematic choices are typically used to show China’s willingness to undertake global responsibility and to jointly work with other stakeholders to safeguard our planet, echoing China’s global vision of “building a shared future for mankind”.