China’s rise will continue, whether the West likes it or not

P.H. Yu says China does not want to tear down the international order that has helped make its rise possible. It is now up to the West to make space for China’s non-democratic system of governance if it wants that global model to remain in place

A man waves a Chinese flag after visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing in May 2015. Photo: AFP 
The global balance of power is shifting. As the United States retreats from global leadership, China is expanding its international influence. Now, many in the West fear a China-led attempt to overhaul the rules and norms that underpin the existing world order. Are they right to be afraid? 
The re-emergence of China as a major regional and even world power certainly poses profound challenges to the US-led international order created after the second world war. But the goal of Chinese leaders is not explicitly to upend that order, which did, after all, prove flexible enough to enable the impoverished China of the 1970s to become what it is today. Instead, the goal is to ensure that the existing order can adequately accommodate the interests and objectives of both China and the US.  
Print option is available for subscribers only.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.