Modern Diplomacy published on 31 January 2026 a commentary titled "How China Courts the Global South to Counter U.S. Alliances" by Nadia Helmy, Beni Suef University in Egypt.
China is countering Western alliances by drawing on its soft power and economic engagement through the Belt and Road Initiative, rapid military modernization, the formation of counter alliances such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and "gray zone" tactics. China's goal is to shape a multipolar world order.
The Diplomat published on 23 September 2025 a commentary titled "2025 Xiangshan Forum: China Enters a New Era of Assertive Global Governance" by Sookyeon Lee, lieutenant colonel in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps and associate professor at the Korea National Defense University.
The 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in September 2025 represented a watershed moment in China's foreign policy. The author, who attended the forum in 2024 and 2025, concluded this year's session showcased an emboldened China ready to present itself as the leader of an alternative global order. The forum also tracked closely the recent announcement of China's Global Governance Initiative, a framework for reforming the current Western-led international system.
Foreign Policy posted on 5 April 2024 a commentary titled "China Is Gaslighting the Developing World" by Robert A. Manning, Stimson Center.
The author argues that it is unclear if the Global South really wants "a post-American future--let alone a Beijing-dominated one." China's vision of multilateralism and equality are camouflage for its own hegemonic ambitions.
Most of China's initiatives are aimed at delegitimizing and displacing U.S. power. China envisions the BRICS, for example, as "a Sino-centric network," a competitor or eventually even replacement for the Bretton Woods institutions.
The author concludes: "China appears, at best, an immature great power, its aspirations far exceeding its grasp and appeal. Beijing's wannabe post-U.S. order faces a legitimacy deficit."
The Pacific Review published in December 2023 a study titled "China's 'Do-as-I-Do' Paradigm: Practice-based Normative Diplomacy in the Global South" by Jeremy Garlick, Prague University of Economics and Business, and Fangxing Qin, Beijing Foreign Studies University.
This study argues that China expects partner countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to model their behavior and discourse on the example set by Beijing without significant disagreement. Countries in the Global South have begun to alter their behavior (e.g. frequent reference to win-win cooperation) along the normative lines expected by Beijing rather than those enshrined in the Western-led liberal international order. Nevertheless, there is still space for counter initiatives from the West.
The Diplomat published on 28 September 2023 a commentary titled "Can China Really Build a New World Order?" by Nicholas Bequelin, Yale Law School's Paul Tsai Center on China.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented that "China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and the power to do it." The author concludes that Chinese diplomacy is riven by contradictions, incoherence, and confusion. Disorder rather than a new Chinese world order is the most likely outcome of current Chinese foreign policy.
