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China is one of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has been actively promoting the multilateral global climate governance process. China has advanced its eco-civilization construction and the agenda for combating climate change in a coordinated manner, and delivered positive results. By studying and interpreting the guiding principles of President Xi Jinping’s important speeches at the Leaders Summit on Climate and the video summit between China, France and Germany, this paper goes over the basic thinking of China’s participation in international climate governance and the Chinese approach to tackling global climate change, and sums up China’s achievements in the fields such as transition to green and low-carbon development, energy structure adjustment, greenhouse gases control, the construction of national carbon market, as well as its contribution to tackling global climate change.

As the world moves from "governance by the West" to "co-governance by both the West and East," the inherent deficiency in current global governance architecture becomes obvious to all of us. The author, through his own experiences as both a practitioner and student of global governance, has highlighted where the deficiency is and how to remedy it. By explaining China's recent moves in proposing the Chinese dream and building "one belt and one road," the author suggests that China continue on this proactive approach in dealing with global governance and offers some ideas from Chinese cultural heritage on how to reform the global governance architecture, with an emphasis on the G20, as well as on what China and the United States can do together to achieve better global governance.

Beijing’s quest for a more prominent role in a changing international order requires greater ability to shape global rules and norms in emerging strategic domains like cyberspace. Cross-border data flows, an important driving force behind the digital economy, give rise to growing concerns about potential threats to national security and individual privacy. In contrast with the Western approach that focuses on maximum data freedom, China’s proposal for cross-border data governance prioritizes security, order, and development. Contrary to outside expectations that Beijing’s restrictive data policies allow little room for international alignment on data security governance, China has shown sufficient flexibility and open-mindedness in major international initiatives for norm setting and institution building. Moreover, Beijing insists that as a global common, cyberspace should not become a new battlefield of great power competition, but instead help advance the shared interests of developing nations.

Beijing is making systematic efforts to accelerate its energy transition by setting ambitious targets, developing and employing clean technology, and stepping up global cooperation. This embrace of green and low-carbon development comes at a time when Beijing has arrived at a crossroads where it must choose a more sustainable development model that lays equal emphasis on resilience and efficiency. Even though China’s past concrete actions have paved the way for a smoother transition, more robust measures, not least concerted efforts by major countries, are still required to secure more irreversible progress as the current Russia–Ukraine crisis and potential fallout may create new roadblocks for the global race to zero carbon emissions. Rising geopolitical tensions as a result of the return of great power competition make it more urgent for leading countries to increase policy coordination to avert climate calamity.