China targets global diplomacy shift with West.

China has come out of its COVID-induced seclusion with ambitious intentions to increase its sway among nations globally. © Illustration by Hiroko Oshima.

While Blinken makes appeals, Beijing employs ‘Xivilization’ to propagate its perspective of China.

For three years, China’s worldwide diplomatic aspirations were frozen due to COVID. However, with the US embroiled in a national election and the global community focused on the conflict in Ukraine, Beijing has returned, intensifying its efforts to advance its own version of the West’s “rules-based international order.”

After three years of COVID-induced isolation, China has emerged with ambitious plans to increase its global influence. With the US preoccupied with domestic elections and the international community focused on the war in Ukraine, Beijing is back, promoting its own alternative to the West’s “rules-based international order.”

President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has increased his global influence efforts, offering to foster Palestinian-Israeli relations and proposing peace plans for Ukraine. While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Xi during his first trip to Beijing in five years, Xi has recently welcomed leaders such as Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, France’s Emmanuel Macron, and several Central Asian heads of state.

Amid growing tensions over Taiwan, China has launched the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), the last of Xi’s ideological frameworks, aimed at “cultivating the garden of world civilization” or “Xivilization” as state media calls it. While the initiative advocates for “common aspirations” of humanity, scholars warn that collegiality may come at the expense of human rights protections.

“It’s more sophisticated. It’s more strategic, more long-term oriented,” said Moritz Rudolf, a researcher at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. “It’s a vision that China’s putting out on the table while Western countries are currently in an identity crisis.”

China has a long-standing vision of reshaping global norms, but the details have been scarce. In 2021, the Global Development Initiative was launched, aimed at assisting developing countries affected by COVID, climate change, and poverty. The Global Security Initiative followed in 2022, two months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Now, with the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), Beijing is expanding its foreign policy by creating alternative institutions for global cooperation that are more ambitious than ever, causing concern for some.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote address via video link to senior international political figures on March 15.

The Global Security Initiative

“China just has an authoritarian answer to this,” said Moritz Rudolf, a researcher at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. “It’s more sophisticated. It’s more strategic, more long-term oriented.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim remains the only national leader to publicly support the GCI. Some observers say not all Asian countries would subscribe to the initiative given the delicate balance of maintaining ties with the U.S.

But should Western nations continue to frame the competing agendas as "autocracy versus democracy" -- as U.S. President Joe Biden has described it -- that could help China's cause, some analysts warn.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is the only national leader to publicly support the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). Some believe that not all Asian countries will join the initiative due to the need to maintain ties with the US.

However, if Western nations continue to frame the competition as “autocracy versus democracy,” as US President Joe Biden has described it, this could benefit China, some analysts warn.

“At the political level, there is a lot of alignment with the Chinese,” said Hoang Thi Ha, a senior fellow at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. “The idea of ‘Don’t just use liberal Western values to dictate your foreign policy with us’ carries weight in some capitals.”

Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron walk down a red carpet during an official welcoming ceremony for the French president in Beijing on April 6.

Beijing’s diplomatic efforts coincide with Xi Jinping’s third term and his mission to rejuvenate the Chinese nation. Observers trace China’s ambitions back to its experience of colonial subjugation, known as the “century of humiliation,” from 1839 to 1949.

China’s vision of a multipolar world began with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched a decade ago, which has invested over $962 billion in infrastructure development across 147 countries, according to a report by Fudan University’s Green Finance & Development Center. However, the BRI has faced criticism for exacerbating debt in poor countries and for the quality of some projects.

Since Xi Jinping became the head of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, China’s foreign policy has become more assertive, in line with its economic growth.

In addition to its Taiwan agenda, Beijing has made extensive claims in the South China Sea, rapidly constructing islands and militarizing the region. Non-Western-centric organizations, such as the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, have provided Beijing with platforms to promote its vision of a new world order.

As China takes a more prominent role in global diplomacy, Western nations are trying to adapt to the new reality. The Group of Seven major industrialized countries recently took a united stand against China's economic coercion and called on China to follow international rules.

However, while the war in Ukraine has strengthened Western alliances, some warn that their influence on global politics is rapidly declining. "The consolidation of the West is taking place in an increasingly divided post-Western world," wrote the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, center rear, joins G7 leaders at a working session on the final day of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21.

Prolonged Western dominance has led Western nations to believe their values are universal, and the shift to a multipolar world is more of a "moral challenge" than a political one, according to George Yeo, Singapore's former foreign affairs minister. Yeo argues that multipolarity would bring economic, cultural, and political benefits to the global community and that the US should not view China as an adversary.

China's Qin Gang, left, Brazil's Mauro Vieira, South Africa's Naledi Pandor, Russia's Sergey Lavrov and India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attend a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 1, 2023. 

Regardless of how Western nations respond, observers predict that Beijing will continue to push for a greater global role. Some suggest that China will become more involved in Afghanistan and the Middle East, while others note China's interest in Central Asia.

At a recent meeting of BRICS foreign ministers, there was a call to rebalance the global order away from Western nations. However, resistance to China and Xi Jinping makes this a difficult goal. Since COVID, unfavorable views of China have reached historic highs, along with opposition to Xi's vision of China as a global leader, according to Pew Research Group.

As competition and potential conflict between major powers loom, China may achieve its goal of playing a larger role in a multipolar world. However, the future of that world is uncertain.

"So long as we do not slip into kinetic warfare, I do not foresee a total freeze in relations between Beijing and Washington," said Brian Wong, an associate fellow at the Oxford Global Society. "However, this does not mean that bilateral relations will improve any time soon."