China's role in global governance set to grow as old order fades, experts say

By Xia Fangting

With the old world order no longer reflecting today's multipolar realities, China is likely to play a larger role in global governance, experts said at a dialogue in Beijing on March 20.

"Right now, the old order is rapidly fading away," said Vuk Jeremić, former foreign minister of Serbia and former president of the U.N. General Assembly. "The U.N. has hardly been functioning very well for quite a while, and particularly not of late. The rules of the U.N. are perhaps no longer reflecting the current realities and the division of power in the multipolar world."

Vuk Jeremić, former foreign minister of Serbia and former president of the U.N. General Assembly, speaks at a dialogue in Beijing, March 20, 2026. [Photo courtesy of CCG]

Jeremić outlined three optionsnations now face: reforming existing organizations to better deliver global public goods, building new or alternative organizations, or resorting to unilateral action.

"Those three and the relationship among those three will determine whether we live in times of war or in times of peace globally," he said.

He pointed to the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) proposed by China as offering valuable insights into how such reform should be conceived and carried out.

"China's long-term vision when it comes to global relations is in many ways addressed through the GGI, which is very convincing," he said.

"The expectation of the world is that China is going to play a very important role," Jeremić added. "If China does not play a key role, I don't think anybody else will."

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, highlighted China's governance stability and its potential to lead on sustainable development.

"China has, in my view, the most stable governance process of a major country in the world, by far," he said.

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, speaks at a dialogue in Beijing, March 20, 2026. [Photo courtesy of CCG]

"China will be the lead country over the next 20 years," Sachs said. "It's not going to be a global hegemon — there will be no global hegemon — but China will be the lead economy and the lead country providing solutions for sustainable development."

As for the United States, he added, "it, at best, will not obstruct development, but it will not take the lead."

Sachs said China's industrial capacity gives it a unique edge in the global green transition. "It will lead on all the green technologies for the next quarter century," he said.

Other experts at the discussion underscored China's constructive and stabilizing role in global governance and multilateral diplomacy, pointing to the country's consistent support for reforming international institutions to reflect multipolar realities.

The dialogue was jointly hosted by the Center for China and Globalization and Horizons, the flagship publication of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development. The event brought together diplomats, scholars and media representatives.