It also provides the looking ahead section, which focuses on China’s evolving global governance strategy in four sectors, which include: global health, internet governance, climate change, and development finance.

In the report, China’s economic and military power was said to have grown since the early 2010s, with the ambition to reform the global governance system to reflect Beijing’s values and priorities. Those priorities are said to be ‘defensive in nature and ‘reflect long-standing Chinese aims: preventing criticism of China’s human rights practices, keeping Taiwan from assuming an independent role in international institutions, and protecting Beijing from compromises to its sovereignty’.

China’s aim is explained as being focused on political and economic development, reflect state control over certain sectors of the economy. In the China’s 2018 Central Foreign Policy Work conference, President Xi Jinping – described in The Diplomat as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong – has called for China to lead the reform of the global governance system, ‘transforming institutions and norms to reflect Beijing’s values and priorities’.

Moreover, the report states that Xi Jinping has called for ‘more shared control of global governance. The source explains that he has declared that China needs to ‘lead the reform of the global governance system with the concepts of fairness and justice’. It says:

“The terms fairness and justice signal a call for a more multipolar world, one potentially with a smaller U.S. role in setting international rules. The Donald J. Trump administration’s retreat from global leadership has added to China’s opportunity to fill the void and promote multipolar global governance.”

Another aspect is the role in international agencies, where the report reminds of June 2019, when Qu Dongyu ‘easily defeated the U.S.-backed candidate’ for the position of becoming director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. It states that today Chinese officials lead four of the fifteen UN specialized agencies.

The last part of the Centre Stage from 2012-Present is about creating alternative institutions – ‘Beijing building its own China-centred institutions’. Belt and Road Initiative launched by Beijing is a plan to boost ties with other countries. The report includes the map of countries that have joined initiative as of 2017. Highlighted countries on the map where the ones that import from China as a percentage of GDP and countries that had over 8% were: Mongolia (11.9%), Myanmar (13.5%), Thailand (8.4%), Vietnam (32.3%) or Malaysia (13.4%).

The section “Looking Ahead” describes that China has regained much of its influence in the world over the last two decades and that Beijing is progressing in restoring ‘what it sees as its rightful great power status’. It says:

“Beijing has built up its influence over global governance in particular, gaining a greater say within important organisations while also launching new initiatives like the Belt and Road initiative. China’s increased involvement in global governance expands its international political clout, helps it project soft power, and also promotes its domestic economic development.”

The possible future has been described as China ‘forcefully setting the terms for global governance’, if its economy will continue to grow over the long term.

By Julita Waleskiewicz