China has launched a series of global governance and trade initiatives over the past decade that have sparked concern in U.S. and European capitals about whether Beijing is seeking to displace the Western-led international order. The so-called "5Gs" include the Global Governance/Security/Development/Civilization/AI Initiatives, along with the BRI, SCO, AIIB, and numerous other Chinese-initiated programs, all of which seem to suggest that China is, in fact, building a parallel international governance architecture to replace the post-WWII institutions.
But Joel Ng, senior fellow and head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, offers a different interpretation. He argues that China's new governance initiatives are not primarily designed to replace the existing international order. Instead, Beijing is using them as instruments to advance its own more narrowly defined strategic interests.
Joel joins Eric to discuss the new book he edited, The Dragon's Emerging Order: Sinocentric Multilateralism and Global Responses.
📌 Topics Covered in this Episode:
- What "Sinocentric multilateralism" actually means
- Whether China is creating parallel institutions to the UN system
- The role of BRICS and other emerging multilateral platforms
- Why many Global South countries find China's initiatives attractive
- How China's global governance ideas differ from U.S. alliance systems
- What could happen if the United Nations weakens or collapses financially
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