By Koviao Matuzee
As the world grapples with wars, widening development gaps, climate pressures, technological disruption and growing distrust between major powers, China is putting forward what it describes as a new answer to one of the defining questions of the times: how should the world be governed?
The answer is the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), formally proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus meeting on September 1, 2025.
At the heart of the initiative are five principles, namely, sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach, and a commitment to achieving real results.
China presents the initiative as a contribution to building what it calls a more just and equitable global governance system, while maintaining that the United Nations should remain at the center of the international system.
The proposal comes as confidence in existing global institutions faces mounting pressure.
According to the GGI concept paper, the international system is struggling with what China describes as three major deficiencies; inadequate representation of the Global South, declining respect for international rules and institutions, and insufficient effectiveness in addressing emerging global challenges.
China argues that developing countries remain underrepresented in global decision-making despite their growing economic and political weight.
The GGI therefore places sovereign equality at the top of its framework, arguing that countries should have equal rights to participate in global governance regardless of their size, wealth, or strength.
For developing countries, particularly those that have long called for greater representation in international institutions, this is one of the initiative’s most significant messages.
However, the proposal goes beyond representation.
China is also calling for what it describes as consistent application of international law, rejecting double standards and the imposition of individual countries’ domestic rules on the international community.
The GGI concept paper argues that the principles of the UN Charter should remain the foundation of international relations, and that major powers should take the lead in respecting international law.
This places the initiative squarely within a wider debate about the future of the international order, particularly as disputes over sanctions, military alliances, intervention and the interpretation of international law continue to divide countries.
Multilateralism is the third pillar.
China argues that global challenges cannot be effectively addressed through unilateral action or exclusive groups of countries.
Instead, it advocates what it describes as extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefit.
The United Nations, in this vision, remains the central platform through which countries should tackle global challenges.
That position is particularly notable as the UN marks its 80th anniversary and faces questions over its effectiveness, funding, representation and ability to respond to major international crises.
According to China, strengthening the UN is not about creating an alternative institution outside the existing international system.
Rather, the concept paper explicitly says the goal is to reform and improve existing institutions so that they can respond more effectively to contemporary challenges.
The fourth principle places people at the center.
China argues that global governance should ultimately be judged by whether it improves people’s lives, from reducing poverty and inequality to addressing climate change, public health emergencies, food insecurity and economic instability.
This gives the GGI a development dimension that is particularly relevant to the Global South, where questions of access to finance, technology, markets, and development opportunities remain central to national policy debates.
The fifth principle is perhaps the most practical: real results.
China says global governance cannot stop at declarations, meetings and agreements.
It must produce tangible outcomes.
The concept paper calls for more coordinated and systematic responses to issues including artificial intelligence, cyberspace, climate change, trade, outer space, and international financial architecture.
This emphasis reflects a central criticism contained within the initiative: that the international community often spends considerable time negotiating solutions while implementation remains slow.
The GGI is also not being presented in isolation.
It joins three other Chinese initiatives, namely, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, which Beijing says address development, security, civilization and governance respectively.
China presents the four initiatives as a broader framework for responding to an increasingly interconnected world.
However, the significance of the GGI lies not only in its five principles, but in what it says about China’s view of the international system.
Beijing is positioning itself as a proponent of reform within the existing UN-centered system, while simultaneously arguing that the system must give greater weight to developing countries and become more representative and effective.
The proposal therefore enters an already intense international conversation about whether global institutions designed largely in the aftermath of the Second World War adequately reflect today’s distribution of economic and political power.
For Africa and other developing regions, that question carries a particular weight.
Greater representation, access to development resources, technology, climate finance and participation in international rulemaking are not abstract diplomatic issues.
They affect countries’ ability to shape decisions that directly influence their economies and societies.
China’s GGI therefore offers one answer to a much broader global debate.
Its success, however, will ultimately depend not only on the principles China has articulated, but on how those principles are interpreted and implemented in practice, and how other countries respond to them.
The GGI marks a clear attempt by Beijing to place its ideas about sovereignty, multilateralism, development and international cooperation at the center of the debate over the future of global governance.
In a world increasingly defined by geopolitical rivalry and shared global challenges, China is making its position clear, the existing system should not simply be abandoned, but reshaped to become, in its words, more representative, equitable and capable of delivering results.
The question now is how far the international community is prepared to go in that direction and what a reformed global order would ultimately look like.
