Paper
- +4
George Perkovich, Ariel (Eli) Levite, Lyu Jinghua, …
{
"authors": [
"Lyu Jinghua"
],
"type": "commentary",
"centerAffiliationAll": "",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"Carnegie China"
],
"collections": [
"China’s Foreign Relations",
"China and the Developing World",
"Carnegie China Commentaries"
],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "",
"programs": [],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"East Asia",
"China"
],
"topics": [
"Economy"
]
}
Source: Getty
Commentary
Three Lessons China Has Learned About Global Governance
How has Beijing’s approach to multilateral institutions evolved in the seventy years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China?
By Lyu Jinghua
Published on Sep 25, 2019
During the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing has evolved from a challenger to a contributor to global governance. Such an evolution is the result of the changing international system, China’s growing strength, and the need to accommodate it in the international order.
China’s approach has been influenced by three lessons that it has learned over the past 70 years:
- China’s development is closely interconnected with that of the larger global community.
China believes it is its responsibility to play a more active role in the world as an important stakeholder. But in contrast to the United States, which focuses on maintaining its global leadership role, China attaches more importance to perfecting international mechanisms of global governance. - Almost all of these mechanisms—from the UN to the World Trade Organization and the World Bank—are currently led by Western countries. China cannot and will not benefit from comprehensively changing these institutions.
Instead, China prefers to improve the international system through evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, means. Rather than challenging the system, China believes the best approach is to reform it incrementally. - Though China has found it difficult to integrate into traditional global and regional political-military arrangements, it has greatly benefited from successfully integrating into economic ones.
As a result, China’s contributions to global governance focus mainly on economic cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative, for example, aims to stabilize and improve China’s economic relationship with participating countries.
These lessons have served as the logic behind how China’s global governance has evolved and will continue to develop.
This quick take is part of a series authored by scholars from across the Carnegie Endowment’s global network, in advance of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
- How Has the U.S.-China Relationship Changed Over Seventy Years?
Paul Haenle - How China Became Russia’s Most Important Partner
Alexander Gabuev - How Has Europe’s View of the People’s Republic of China Changed?
Judy Dempsey - How Has China’s Role in the Middle East Evolved?
Maha Yahya - Three Lessons China Has Learned About Global Governance
Lyu Jinghua - A Brief History of India’s Relationship with the People’s Republic of China
Srinath Raghavan
About the Author
Lyu Jinghua
Former Visiting Scholar, Cyber Policy Initiative
Lyu Jinghua was a visiting scholar with Carnegie’s Cyber Policy Initiative. Her research focuses primarily on cybersecurity and China-U.S. defense relations.
- China-U.S. Cyber-Nuclear C3 Stability
- What Is the U.S. Ban on TikTok and WeChat All About?Q&A
Jon Bateman, Lyu Jinghua
Recent Work
More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- The Diverging U.S. and Israeli Goals in Iran Are Making the Endgame Even MurkierCommentary
The cracks between Trump and Netanyahu have become more pronounced, particularly over energy and leadership targets.
Eric Lob
- How the Hormuz Closure Is Testing the Korean President’s Progressive AgendaCommentary
The crisis is not just a story of energy vulnerability. It’s also a complex, high-stakes political challenge.
Darcie Draudt-Véjares
- Takaichi’s Security Agenda After the Landslide ElectionArticle
Backed by a new LDP supermajority, Prime Minister Takaichi aspires to revise Japan’s long-standing security doctrine. Ahead of her visit to Washington, she faces fiscal hurdles for her proposed defense spending while needing to navigate President Trump’s request for naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz.
Harukata Takenaka
- Europe and the Arab Gulf Must Come TogetherCommentary
The war in Iran proves the United States is now a destabilizing actor for Europe and the Arab Gulf. From protect their economies and energy supplies to safeguarding their territorial integrity, both regions have much to gain from forming a new kind of partnership together.
Rym Momtaz
- Revisiting Japan’s Non-Nuclear Principles: Between a Nuclear Allergy and UmbrellaArticle
Japan’s prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, may kickstart a discussion on Japan’s non-nuclear principles.
Shizuka Kuramitsu
