China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies

To better assess the global impact of the ascendance of emerging powers brought about by globalization, this paper attempts to provide a conceptual framework of “interdependent hegemony,” which can serve as an alternative conceptual tool for analyzing the dynamics between the role of emerging powers as a counter-hegemonic, socio-political force and the hegemonic resilience of the existing international order. The paper also regards the capitalist world economy as a dynamic system which is under constant changes over time, whereas certain basic features of the system remain in place. It is argued that despite the rise of emerging powers, the functioning of the world economy will always generate inequalities with positional changes in the stratification of the core-semiperiphery-periphery structure. In this context, the rise of China as both a recipient and provider of global production and investment is fundamentally a positive driving force behind the evolution of the world system.

China’s economy has entered a “new normal,” transforming from high-speed growth to high-quality development. In the new era, China does not only need to shift its path of development in a timely fashion, but it should also take bigger steps to modernize its economic system. Facing various new demands and challenges, China must make every effort to foster an economic system that features innovation-driven industries, urban-rural and regional coordination, a market economy with socialist characteristics, as well as lasting momentum for opening-up on all fronts. It is expected that despite the economic difficulties at the moment, China will accelerate its economic transformation to achieve high-quality development and make new contributions to the world economy.

Over the past few years, the international community has undertaken proactive and extensive efforts to build a cohesive and effective United Nations Development System (UNDS) with more solid institutions and robust leadership. In line with the requirements set out in the UN 2030 Agenda, the United Nations, under the leadership of its secretary-general Antonio Guterres, came up with a reform package that would help contain the further fragmentation of the UNDS. Guided by the principles of extensive consultation, joint action, and shared benefits, China has been extending strong support for the United Nations’ reform efforts while playing an important role in global development cooperation. As the world’s largest developing country, China insists that any development agenda should always focus on development and that poverty eradication should be the top priority of the UN 2030 Agenda. A number of issues must be addressed when planning for future UNDS reform, in particular the targets and viable ways to promote incremental administrative reform, to improve the existing regional coordinator system, to bridge the funding gap and imbalance between core and non-core resources, and to exemplify emerging countries’ best practices.

As the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, China has been a key party in global climate negotiation. External perceptions of China’s role in climate negotiation are significant for China’s domestic policy-making process and international climate efforts. Based on the case studies of two most historic climate talks, the Copenhagen and Paris climate conferences, this article attempts to examine the evolution of external perceptions on China’s role in international climate negotiation by three criteria: acceptability, credibility and constructiveness. The study shows that external perceptions of China’s role in international climate talks have changed considerably since 2009. At the Copenhagen conference, China was regarded as a “dead weight” or even a “wrecker,” though it managed to attain most of its negotiating goals. At the Paris conference, however, China was widely recognized as a global climate leader whose endeavor was indispensable for the conclusion of the Paris Agreement.

Both China and the United States are international leaders in artificial intelligence (AI). Although there remains a significant gap between them in cutting-edge technologies, and they have adopted different methods of planning and implementation, both countries have been mobilizing national resources and formulating policies to promote AI development, so as to achieve a strategic advantage over the other, especially against the backdrop of ever more intense and complicated strategic competition between them in recent years. As an epitome of their changing relationship, Sino-U.S. competition in AI development is manifested in economic, political, security, technological and other fields. It is expected that artificial intelligence will become an even more important field of competition between China and the United States, and that the trends of AI development and competition will to some extent determine the future dynamics of their bilateral relations.

Chinese officials often claim that their country’s massive involvement in Africa is an example of “South-South cooperation” with tremendous potential to unlock Africa’s development prospects. They maintain that China’s economic involvement in the continent is less exploitative and more relevant to local needs than the North’s. Starting from a relatively small amount of investment in the early 1990s, China has become Africa’s biggest economic partner. Yet, as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Investment (UNCTAD) and other studies have shown, Chinese trade and investment in Africa are reproducing African countries as exporters of raw materials and importers of manufactured goods. This paper deconstructs the uncritical view of China’s development cooperation with Africa as “South-South” cooperation, highlighting its potential tensions, incongruities, downsides, and dilemmas. It demonstrates both good and bad news. Recent data show that despite the slowdown of the Chinese economy and slump in prices of certain raw materials, the total value of China-Africa trade is on the rise, with Africa’s exports to China growing rapidly, indicating a narrowing gap between imports and exports in the bilateral trade. However, whether this phenomenon is sustainable remains in doubt. Dynamics of the boom and bust cycles of commodity markets, limited diversification, domestic institutional constraints, limited tariff exemptions and rising debt on African countries can all compromise the recent progress in China-Africa trade and exacerbate their asymmetrical relationship, reproducing the trade pattern between the West and African countries.

President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is both a major reversal of the Obama administration’s climate policy and a huge blow to global climate governance. The comprehensive regression of President Trump’s climate policy manifests mainly in three aspects: abolition of the clean energy plan, exit from the Paris Agreement, and a return to traditional energy policies, which reflect the cyclical and volatile nature of the U.S. climate policy. With its lasting negative impact, the China-U.S. cooperative leadership in global climate governance is stranded. In this light, China should strive for a bigger role in leading global efforts to address climate change and enhance cooperation through various mechanisms. Under the current U.S. policy environment, China can still strengthen cooperation with the United States in such fields as traditional energy, infrastructure investment, global energy market, and green finance.

The year 2015 marked the deadline for finishing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the United Nations (UN) member states launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN 2030 Agenda encompassing 17 goals and 169 targets aims at eradicating global poverty, combating inequalities and utilizing natural resources in a sustainable manner so that “no one is left behind.” All stakeholders have committed to proceeding with the incomplete agenda of the MDGs and achieve the SDGs by 2030. Also in 2015, China initiated the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a collection of projects to develop energy, industry and communication infrastructure costing US$46 billion as a key part of the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).” This paper examines different components of the CPEC and explores the extensive convergence between the main goals envisioned under the CPEC and the universally accepted SDGs. It posits that if successfully implemented, the CPEC will contribute to achievement of various SDGs in Pakistan. While it is expected that the CPEC will enable the country to move forward on a number of SDGs, three goals are particularly relevant to the construction of the CPEC. The paper argues that there is immense potential for convergence, commonality, and division of labor for a host of bilateral and multilateral actors to enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development (SDG17), resolve political differences, participate in the CPEC, and contribute to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda even beyond Pakistan in the broader South Asian region.