New world order is the
inevitable trend

After
decades of turbulence, the world order led by the United States has begun to
change, with the 2008 global financial crisis possibly being the turning point
and this year signaling a new beginning.

On the global front, the strength of developing countries has
greatly increased. For example, China has been playing a greater role in global
governance to build a “community of shared destiny”, as propounded by
President Xi Jinping.

And the International Monetary Fund has predicted the share of
high-income countries in the global purchasing power parity-based GDP will drop
from 64 percent to 39 percent, with Asian emerging powers’ share increasing
from 12 percent to 39 percent, with China taking 21 percent.

The changing world order is not about the decline of the US but
about the rise of other countries, as Fareed Zakaria, a CNN journalist and
author of The Post-American World, said. Nevertheless, global governance is set
to change from West-led governance to co-governance by the West and East, as
the democratization of international relations is a wish shared by all
countries.

A multipolar world order and globalization will be the highlights
of the new era. Countries across the world are willing to compete and cooperate
on the basis of fairness and justice, yet the deadlock between emerging powers
and the established ones will continue for some time.

The changing world order has also caused uncertainty, instability
and increased geopolitical risks, especially because the US still practices
“American exceptionalism”, worrying about the rapid rise of emerging
countries. As a result, the US has been more vigorously implementing the
“rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific” strategy, and complicating the
Korean Peninsula nuclear and South China Sea issues.

Another feature of the changing world order is the intensification
of conflicts between countries that support and oppose globalization.
Interestingly, the roles of countries in pushing forward globalization have
changed: Developing countries such as China firmly support globalization while
some Western countries such as the US, who initiated the process of
globalization, are opposing it now.

Washington is also trying to change the global economic rules
which it considers harmful to US interests. From the Trans-Pacific Partnership
agreement that former US president Barack Obama energetically pushed forward to
the “America First” policy of incumbent President Donald Trump, the
US’ focus has been to increase its own benefits. The fact, however, is that
only when they cooperate with others can they benefit from each other to have a
win-win outcome.

What the Trump administration refuses to accept is that the
rejection of globalization will destabilize the world in a long run. In
contrast, to strengthen globalization, China has proposed projects such as the
Belt and Road Initiative and a community of shared destiny.

Moreover, the concept of regional and global security, too, is
changing. As such, despite the existence of competitive military alliances and
global security partnerships, eventually all countries have to cooperate to
seek common security and peace.

After the end of World War II, the US entered into many bilateral
and multilateral military alliances to maintain its supremacy, based on which a
global security system led by it was built. But in the changing world order, it
is difficult for the US-centric military alliances to maintain world peace or
ensure the US’ own security. According to a Pew Research Center poll across 37
countries, global trust in the US has been declining sharply.

Still, as a pillar of the US’ global strategy, Washington’s
military alliances will not end in the short term; instead, they could gain in
strength.

Even the developing new world order will create some challenges
related to globalization and geopolitics that will continue to bother the
international community. The urgent need is for all countries to make sincere
efforts to achieve peaceful development. And China, as a responsible power,
will keep pursuing the path of peaceful development and win-win cooperation to
help make the world a better place for future generations.

The author is former Chinese vice-foreign minister and co-chairman
of the Center for China and Globalization.