context: Although Beijing still seems proactive in shaping global governance through the UN, analysts are ever more aware of faltering multilateralism.
Global governance is facing challenges and uncertainty due to the pandemic and US–China competition, concur experts at the 29 Sep 2020 CICIR (China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations) seminar
- existing global governance system is near collapse
- cannot predict whether globalism or regionalism will prevail
- two parallel systems cannot yet form as the existing system is not completely broken down
Analysing major countries' strategies, CICIR's area studies institutes report
- US: developing rules beneficial to itself in 'Western' economic areas (Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Japan, Western hemisphere)
- Russia: maintaining balance between US and China, meanwhile improving its international standing
- EU: expanding EU governance at a global scale
- Japan: hoping to be a bridge between China and the US
- India: pushing for 'multilateralism with reform', navigating China and US through issue-based alliance
- Brazil: withdrawing from global governance to prioritise domestic development, allying with 'Western developed countries'
- Africa: major demands include shared prosperity, defending the existing system and reforming based on altruism, but its vision is unstable due to myriad of voices
China should adapt to the situation and respond proactively
- regional cooperation BRI partners should be prioritised, and then successful experiences promoted globally, says Fu Mengzi 傅梦孜 CICIR vice director
- soft power should be strengthened, a replacement for neoliberal ideology will help secure global support, says Niu Xinchun 牛新春 CICIR director of Middle East studies
- public goods supply, especially COVID-19 vaccine, should be used to secure global acceptance, says Zhang Yuncheng 张运成 CICIR director of global economics