Flags of countries around the world in front of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland Photo: TUCHONG

Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Plus” Meeting in Tianjin, a major port city in northern China, on Sept. 1. As another significant initiative following the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), the GGI has received a strong response from academia both in China and abroad.

In recent interviews with CSST, international scholars observed that the GGI aligns with the development trajectory of globalization and offers countries valuable opportunities to participate in global governance on an equal footing. At a time when globalization faces multifold challenges and escalating uncertainties, the GGI provides the path forward for humanity and represents a strategic effort to optimize the international governance system.

Firm commitment to multilateralism

The GGI calls for “adhering to sovereign equality, abiding by international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, advocating the people-centered approach, and focusing on taking real actions.” Héribert-Label Élisée Adjovi, president of the Panafrican Caucus of Journalists and governor of the Beninese magazine Le Label Diplomatique, told CSST that the GGI reflects China’s strategic vision to help reshape the international order around multipolarity, equity, and inclusive cooperation, within an institutional framework that advances reforms in security, trade, energy, and technological collaboration.

Mariana Escalante, a professor of political and social sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, noted that the GGI is part of a broader set of proposals—the GDI, GSI, and GCI—that seek to provide alternatives to the common challenges facing the global community. In this sense, it reaffirms the multilateral and consensus-driven orientation of Chinese foreign policy.

“China has consistently pursued mutual wellbeing and cooperation under the principle of win-win outcomes, which can also be understood through the Confucian tradition of the great communality (Datong),” Escalante explained. “The GGI is embedded within this horizon, invoking the idea that collective goods and global responsibilities must be shared—‘all under heaven belongs to all (Tianxia Weigong).’ This approach is closely tied to the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity.”

“The GGI demands a nuanced and multidimensional academic reading,” Adjovi appealed, adding that it forms part of a strategic continuum through which China responds to geopolitical turbulence and the structural limitations of a system still largely shaped by Western paradigms.

Escalante emphasized that the GGI demonstrates that China seeks to strengthen a more inclusive international order at a time when certain other powers prioritize unilateral, restrictive approaches or cooperation within unequal frameworks.

In essence, the GGI is both a geopolitical manifesto and a call for the intellectual re-foundation of global governance. It deserves to be studied as a turning point in contemporary strategic thought—one that may redefine the contours of international cooperation for decades to come, Adjovi predicted.

Addressing challenges in global governance

The contemporary world is undergoing profound transformations, and the international landscape is growing increasingly complex. On the global stage, deficits in peace, development, security, and governance are becoming ever more pronounced.

“The GGI represents a strategic attempt to rebalance the international system amid intensifying geoeconomic tensions (e.g., trade fragmentation, supply chain disruptions) and the erosion of traditional multilateralism (e.g., weakened UN mechanisms, selective disengagement by major powers),” Adjovi said.

Augustin F. C. Holl, a distinguished Cameroonian professor from the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Xiamen University, pointed out that regional conflicts persist with significant spillover effects. The shadows of unilateralism and hegemony continue to loom over parts of the world. The United Nations system also faces challenges of reform. The post-WWII multilateral order is undergoing a profound crisis, as some major Western countries, driven by self-interest, obstruct reforms in global governance and even try to alter the course of history.

The existing global governance system fails to adequately address the interests of emerging nations, which remain disproportionately marginalized in key international decision-making processes, Holl noted. He urged pragmatic, action-oriented measures to address the deep-rooted flaws within the global governance structure.

From the perspective of world history, Marcos Pires, a professor of international political economy at São Paulo State University in Brazil, stressed that today’s global governance system is still rooted in the framework established 80 years ago at the end of WWII. While international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization have their rationales, they struggle to meet contemporary needs.

The China-proposed GGI, Pires said, responds to the shared aspirations of people across nations. It seeks to promote the reform and improvement of the global governance system so that it keeps pace with the times, while also enhancing the flexibility and effectiveness of cooperative mechanisms such as BRICS and the SCO.

Pires added that human civilization is a vibrant garden of diverse cultures and myriad traditions. Therefore, the particular national conditions, social contexts, and economic development rights of all countries must be respected. No single country should arbitrarily impose its own political or cultural model on others. An ideal system of global governance should facilitate agreement building and consensus forming among nations, and the GGI is precisely aimed at translating this vision into reality.

China’s pursuit of peaceful development

In Pires’ view, the GGI aligns with the fundamental norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, carrying forward the same spirit as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence formulated by China in the 1950s. China has consistently supported the vital role of the United Nations in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. The introduction of the GGI demonstrates China’s commitment to upholding this stance through specific actions.

“One of the defining features of China’s foreign policy has been its activism in favor of a more just and equitable international order: one distanced from hegemony and the imposition of uniform models,” Escalante elaborated. “China has expressed this not only through discourse, but also through concrete actions and initiatives that reaffirm its peaceful essence. This is reflected in the fact that China has never initiated a war, has consistently promoted the idea of a peaceful rise on the international stage, and has advanced projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative.”