https://www.axios.com/chinas-global-governance-ambitions--bd6d2d0a-5d51-4807-a1ba-a677c1145688.html
China has developed inside a global governance system
that has an architecture designed with minimal input from China.
The state of play: The
country justifiably wants a bigger say now, but its increasing authoritarianism
is raising concerns about its efforts to reshape global governance.
From the American perspective: Earlier
this week, the Center for American Progress issued a report on
China's global governance ambitions. Among the highlights...
The current
global governance system is rules-based, and it privileges liberal democratic
values and standards; Beijing’s alternative vision is a system based on
authoritarian governance principles in which nations negotiate issues
bilaterally instead of following common rules and standards.
From a liberal
democratic perspective, if Beijing succeeds in bringing about that vision, the
world will be less free, less prosperous, and less safe.
This report
aims to provide a deeper and more nuanced perspective on China’s real global
governance intentions by mapping what President Xi and other Chinese leaders
are saying to their domestic audience and how Chinese foreign policy scholars
interpret those statements...
Deeper
analysis indicates that there is ample reason for concern. China’s stated goals
include watering down liberal democratic principles and either replacing or
augmenting them with authoritarian ones. At the same time, this analysis also
reveals that liberal democracies have powerful levers for shaping China’s
actions in the global governance space.
From the Chinese perspective: The
Feb. 27 People's Daily had a page 1 article titled "Participating in the
transformation of the global economic governance system (参与全球经济治理体系变革)." The article is
the fifth in a series that the Communist Party's most authoritative newspaper
is running on "grasping the new implications of developing our nation's
important strategic opportunities." Some excerpts...
Today's world
is once again at the "crossroads" of progress: the global governance
system is undergoing profound changes and a new international order is being
nurtured. As the world's second largest economy, China is fully capable of
seizing new opportunities to participate in the transformation of the global
economic governance system and play a more important role...
Since the
international financial crisis, the trend of "east rising and west
falling" and "south rising and north falling" in the global
economic landscape has developed in depth.
Major emerging
market countries have taken the lead in economic recovery and developing
countries have contributed about 80% of the global economic growth. However, in
the global economic governance, it has failed to form a symmetrical right, a
matching voice and a reasonable compensation mechanism...
Why it matters: Xi
and his government have an expansive agenda to reshape global systems to serve
China's interests. Be wary of reports that Xi is somehow chastened and pulling
back on global ambitions.