China Reimagines Global Order as US Leadership Questions Linger

As President Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump at the White House, the central question facing the international community was who is shaping the global order and according to whose principles. While the United States remains the world's most powerful nation, China is increasingly emerging as an architect of that order by creating new institutions, proposing diplomatic initiatives, establishing technological standards, and offering infrastructure to countries worldwide.

China's approach differs from the U.S. model of military alliances and security guarantees. Instead, Beijing is constructing networks of trade and alternative financial institutions. It is also promoting a distinct vocabulary in international affairs, one that deliberately diverges from the American language of power. While China does not have a clear plan to supplant the U.S. as the global hegemon, nor do other countries appear ready to fully embrace a Chinese-led system, Beijing seeks greater influence over the ideas and institutions that govern the international system.

This ambition unfolds at a time when the U.S., despite its power, appears less willing to bear the traditional burdens of global leadership. Domestic political divisions, a perceived disregard for international law, and an erratic foreign policy approach have raised questions about the future of American stewardship. However, the U.S. remains deeply entrenched in the institutions, alliances, and technologies that underpin its supremacy. China is gaining space to shape the international order, but it is not yet replacing the power that largely built it. Instead, Beijing is creating alternatives that allow other countries to lessen their dependence on the existing American-led system.

China's vision for a different international order highlights its proposition about development, questioning whether countries must follow a Western path to modernity. For decades, the prevailing development model involved foreign aid, privatization, and political liberalization. China offers an alternative, suggesting that economic success can be achieved through investments in infrastructure, financed by public and state loans. This approach, captured in the Chinese expression "getting richer by building roads," is being applied internationally. Beijing is financing and promoting the type of infrastructure that fueled its own economic growth, particularly across the Global South.

The developing world has shown receptiveness to China's Global Development Initiative, which places development at the core of its international engagement. Despite criticisms, the Belt and Road Initiative has provided a platform for financing and building infrastructure overseas. China's impact is demonstrated through tangible projects like roads, railways, and ports, rather than solely through governance standards. Between 2013 and 2023, Chinese state-owned enterprises invested approximately $634 billion in global infrastructure and an additional $419 billion in direct investments outside the financial sector in developing nations. This has led to significant economic gains for many governments, particularly in Latin America, a region long considered Washington's strategic backyard.

China's development strategy aims to create enduring economic relationships, often with conditions that serve Beijing's interests, such as privileged access to critical minerals. However, the era of extensive Chinese overseas spending faces challenges as Beijing grapples with its own economic difficulties. The long-term success of Beijing's economic statecraft hinges on building lasting global relationships that extend beyond financial aid and diplomatic capital, and demonstrating an understanding of evolving needs in developing countries.

A New Age of Chinese Tech

Influence is increasingly being exerted through the infrastructure of everyday economic life, with technology playing a central role. As development becomes intertwined with technology, adopting Chinese cloud computing could embed countries within a Chinese-led ecosystem for decades. Artificial intelligence (AI) exemplifies technology's geopolitical power. China is rapidly promoting its AI capabilities globally, offering open-weight models at a lower cost than Western competitors, which appeals to developing nations seeking access to cutting-edge technology without exclusive reliance on American firms.

The technological competition extends to the development choices countries make. If economies build their digital infrastructure primarily on American technologies, Washington maintains a significant structural advantage, gaining access to vast user data as countries become dependent. Conversely, greater reliance on Chinese technologies, standards, and supply chains enhances China's influence, a less visible but potentially consequential form of power.

China's industrial capacity is a key instrument in its effort to shape the global order. Beijing is not merely exporting products but influencing the technologies countries adopt for modernization, thereby shaping the systems their economies will depend on. A central ambiguity in China's development strategy is that while its technology can expand economic opportunities, it also increases dependence on China. Many governments choose Chinese technology for its affordability, not necessarily out of agreement with Beijing's governing philosophy. This allows countries to adopt Chinese systems while maintaining security alignment with the U.S.

China's strategy does not require other nations to become overtly "pro-China"; it is sufficient for them to become less dependent on the West. By demonstrating alternatives to Western technologies, China aims to gradually alter the global balance of power. China's statecraft redistributes economic and technological power, exporting infrastructure and technology that enable other countries to build prosperity, thus fostering a world less dominated by the U.S. and its allies.

Networks, Not Alliances

President Xi's overseas travel has highlighted China's engagement with expanding international networks like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS. While BRICS began as an informal gathering of emerging economies, it has evolved into a larger political forum with countries from various regions seeking closer connections or membership. BRICS is not an anti-American bloc; its members have diverse interests, and countries like India are not seeking an anti-Western alliance. However, the group's expansion reflects a growing desire among nations for access to institutions where the Group of 7 does not dictate terms.

The Group of 7 is an exclusive club with shared political values. China, by contrast, builds alternatives that exist alongside existing institutions, rather than demanding other countries abandon Western-led organizations. This approach suggests that the emerging world order will not be neatly divided between Chinese and American camps. Many countries will continue to engage with the dollar, trade with the U.S., and participate in Western institutions while simultaneously joining BRICS, utilizing Chinese-backed institutions, and engaging with the SCO.

Beijing's advocacy of multipolarity is an effort to broaden the choices available to states. By establishing new institutions and initiatives, Beijing is accelerating the shift of power away from traditional Western centers. China's role as an architect of the international order may not mean replacing America, but rather ensuring that the U.S. is no longer the sole entity capable of writing global rules or defining international behavior.

An Order Shaper in the Making

President Xi's meeting with President Trump will likely be scrutinized for signs of rivalry in areas such as tariffs and technology. However, beneath these headlines lies a fundamental contest over the principles and workings of the international order. China is not seeking to inherit the world the U.S. built; rather, it aims to change how that world operates by offering alternatives to the American-led system.

For decades, the U.S. was seen as the enforcer of a rules-based international order, while China was viewed as its challenger. However, questions surrounding sovereignty and international law have become more contested, blurring this distinction. Whether China's ascent leads to a fairer, more genuinely multipolar international order, or simply a new system with greater Chinese influence, remains uncertain. The outcome will depend on both Beijing's intentions and the acceptance of other countries. For now, China's objective appears to be ensuring that Washington is no longer the only power capable of setting global rules.