China’s Claim to a New World Order

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This year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin marked the largest gathering in the organisation’s history, drawing more than 20 heads of state and 10 representatives of international organisations. At the SCO+ session, China’s Head of State and Party Leader Xi Jinping delivered a keynote address, prominently unveiling the Global Governance Initiative (GGI). For Beijing, development, security, civilisation, and governance constitute the four pillars of building a “community with a shared future for mankind”, in essence, a new world order. Amid today’s ongoing upheavals, it is imperative for Germany and Europe to recognize China as a global strategic challenge.

In addition to the joint sessions of the SCO summit in Tianjin on August 31 and Sep­tember 1, 2025, Xi Jinping held a series of bilateral meetings. These encounters simul­taneously illustrated his pledge of inclu­sivity – granting equal attention to both major powers (such as India and Kazakhstan) and smaller states (such as Armenia and Belarus) – and embodied China’s model of multilateralism, rooted in a web of bilateral ties. The diversity of partici­pating countries highlights Beijing’s drive to deepen transregional connectivity and broaden market access. Observer states (such as Armenia and Azerbaijan), dialogue partners (such as Cambodia and Myanmar), and guest states (such as Vietnam and Indo­nesia) all took part. Most notable, however, was the attendance of Indian Prime Minis­ter Narendra Modi. Returning after seven years, Modi’s presence suggests both the possibility of a renewed Sino-Indian rap­prochement and Beijing’s determination to draw New Delhi into its project of shaping the international order.

By presenting the GGI, Xi addressed an audience drawn from multiple regions. Central to the initiative are five principles. The first is the preservation of sovereign equality, regardless of a nation’s size or its political and economic weight. Here, China emphasizes a shared sentiment with many Global South states that they remain under­represented in today’s international system. Within this framing, Beijing consistently ad­vocates a “democratization of international relations”. What stands out, especially for European observers, is the deliberate reinter­pretation and deployment of familiar politi­cal terminology by Chinese diplomacy.