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Opinion | Attention US: China is not seeking to upend the existing Western-led global order
- True, China wants to change aspects of the system, but its motives include political legitimacy and economic growth – not an end to the liberal world order
- It pays for the US to understand this and work to mitigate the impact of Chinese actions rather than seek direct confrontation
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Why you can trust SCMP
The US clearly identified China as a revisionist power back in 2017, in the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy report. Last year, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray expressed the shared American intelligence community’s concern about China, saying it is “not just a whole-of-government threat, but a whole-of-society threat” during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
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In recent years, China’s global rise has been accompanied by the creation of institutions to engage with the rest of the world. Under the control of the Communist Party, China has either created or supported institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Belt and Road Initiative and the Cross Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS).
However, contrary to the US intelligence community’s assessment, China does not necessarily seek a complete overturn of the Western-led global system. Its latest defence white paper, “China’s National Defence in the New Era”, states that “China unswervingly endorses the central role of the UN in international affairs”, adding: “It firmly maintains multilateralism, advances democracy in international relations.”
A good example of engaging in West-led multilateralism is China’s increased contribution to United Nations peacekeeping, accounting for more than 10 per cent (the second largest contributor after the US) of its total budget. China also contributes the most peacekeepers – 2,519 compared to 34 from the US.
China is also in negotiations to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement with 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific. China may be unsatisfied with certain elements of the global order, but not the entire system. Instead, it is motivated to make selective changes. Therefore, it is important to correctly understand its motives.
Although the US tends to perceive China’s institutions only in geostrategic terms, the Communist Party has non-geostrategic motives in creating institutions to interact with the international community.
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