Will China Succeed in Creating an Asian Security Order?

Richard Ghiasy and Jagannath P. Panda

Commentaries and Op-eds May, 2024

During April 18-23 2024, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a three-nation tour of Cambodia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. The visit is part of a packed diplomatic agenda, already in motion in the first five months of the year, which looks to consolidate China’s status in Asia as the prime geo-economic and geopolitical influencer. Visits by leaders and other high-level officials, including from the Global South and rich European states like France and Germany, to China and by President Xi Jinping and high-level Chinese officials to various parts of the world, particularly in Asia-Pacific, will also test the waters for China’s recently unveiled three world order-building projects, namely the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI), and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI).

Notably, diplomatically, politically, and economically, China has already exponentially leapfrogged ahead of other regional and global giants. Yet, thus far, China has been lagging in building an effective Asian security order, naturally one centered on Chinese interests. Importantly, China appears to be very aware of the complexity of promoting and developing an Asian security order: that is to say, the institutions and principles that guide security relations between states. But could the three new initiatives be the solution for an Asian security order?

 

This piece is a part of the “China’s Himalayan Hustle” project of the SCSA-IPA of the ISDP.

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