中文
Lead: Talk of a China-U.S. "G2" has returned after Trump's visit to Beijing. But the notion that two major countries can share global leadership through a bilateral arrangement overlooks the far more complex reality of how the modern world actually works.
By Li Xing
As engagement between China and the United States intensifies following U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing, the concept of a "G2" has returned to global headlines. Some commentators increasingly speculate whether the world's two largest economies are moving toward a new form of shared leadership in international affairs.
Yet the idea of a “G2” remains politically sensitive for both sides. For the U.S., it implies recognition of China as a peer competitor, challenging the post-Cold War perception of America as the sole superpower shaping the global order. For China, the notion conflicts with its longstanding foreign policy principles, which emphasize multipolarity, multilateralism and cooperation with the Global South rather than bipolar dominance.
Today, the global system is no longer structured around one uncontested center of authority, nor is it simply evolving into a new Cold War-style division between rival blocs. Instead, a more complex and interconnected reality is emerging, one that can be better understood through the concept of "intertwined global governance."
Intertwined global governance refers to a world order in which established and rising powers simultaneously compete, cooperate, constrain and reshape one another within deeply interconnected political and economic structures. The concept is not simply about the redistribution of power among states, but about the increasing interdependence of various governance systems.
China's rise itself embodies the central paradox of intertwined global governance. Its extraordinary economic success was achieved through integration into the global economy, benefiting from access to international trade, foreign investment, technological exchanges and global markets. This enabled China to become one of the central engines of global economic growth. At the same time, China's success has challenged many of the assumptions underlying the existing global order, questioning long-held Western beliefs about the relationship between market economies and political systems, the role of the state in economic development, and the universality of liberal governance models.
In many ways, China's contemporary policy language increasingly reflects this reality. Concepts advanced by Chinese President Xi Jinping, such as global governance reform and a community with a shared future for humanity, emphasize that the world remains structurally interconnected despite intensifying geopolitical tensions. The international system can no longer operate through unilateral dominance or rigid ideological hierarchy. Instead, global governance must adapt to a world characterized by economic interdependence and the growing political weight of the Global South.
One of the most significant features of intertwined global governance is the transformation of the global economy itself. For decades, globalization was largely associated with a Western neoliberal framework built upon deregulation, privatization, liberal democracy and free-market orthodoxy. China's rise has made this narrativeuntenable.
The Chinese model combines market competition with strong state direction under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. State-owned enterprises continue to play major roles in strategic sectors such as finance, energy, telecommunications, transportation and advanced technology. Rather than converging toward Western capitalism, China has developed a hybrid economic structure often described as "market socialism" or a "market economy with Chinese characteristics."
This model illustrates the logic of intertwined global governance: China operates within the global economy while simultaneously influencing the norms and institutions governing it. Through investments in infrastructure, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, manufacturing and digital technology, China has steadily expanded its influence across international markets.
Chinese institutions are no longer merely adapting to global rules established by Western powers. Increasingly, they are helping shape those rules. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank provides an important example of how China builds complementary institutions while remaining integrated within the existing global financial system.
The concept of intertwined global governance reflects the gradual transition away from the U.S.-led unipolar order that shaped much of the post-Cold War era. As American dominance becomes increasingly constrained, global governance is evolving toward a more pluralistic and negotiated structure. The future international system will not be governed exclusively by one economic model or one ideological framework. Instead, multiple approaches to development and governance are emerging simultaneously.
Across Asia, Africa, Latin America and parts of the Middle East, many countries are exploring alternative development paths that do not necessarily follow traditional Western prescriptions. This does not mean that the Chinese model or any other emerging model will replace the Western model globally. Rather, it signals the emergence of a world in which no single system possesses absolute ideological authority.
Global governance is becoming increasingly flexible, negotiated and contested. Norms surrounding development, sovereignty, market regulation and state intervention are no longer universally defined by one center of power. Instead, they are becoming intertwined through interaction among multiple actors with differing political systems, cultural traditions and developmental priorities.
This transformation also helps explain why many Global South countries respond positively to China's calls for reforming global governance institutions, reflecting broader dissatisfaction with a system historically shaped by Western priorities.
Intertwined global governance also challenges traditional ways of understanding the global political economy. For decades, analysts frequently categorized countries according to historically fixed hierarchies such as "core," "semi-peripheral" and "peripheral" economies. Likewise, the distinction between the "Global North" and "Global South" shaped many discussions of development and inequality. The rise of China, BRICS and BRICS+ complicates these categories. Although China still faces many internal challenges, it is simultaneously a technological leader, manufacturing powerhouse and central actor in global trade and finance.
Many countries in the Global South now rely heavily on Chinese investment, infrastructure financing, industrial cooperation and trade partnerships. Through initiatives involving connectivity, manufacturing, transportation and digital infrastructure, China has become deeply integrated into the development strategies of numerous emerging economies.
At the same time, advanced Western economies remain deeply dependent on Chinese manufacturing supply chains and consumer markets. This mutual dependence illustrates how contemporary globalization increasingly operates through interconnected networks in which competition coexists with structural interdependence.
China's growing role in global governance also contributes to global development. Its policies on trade, finance, technology, energy, environmental regulation and industrial production now exert worldwide influence. Changes in Chinese demand affect commodity prices across Africa and Latin America. Shifts in Chinese manufacturing impact inflation, supply chains and industrial production globally.
In many respects, China has become indispensable to the functioning of the global economy. The result is a geopolitical environment defined not by simple dominance, but by intertwined governance. No single country can fully dictate the global order. All countries remain deeply embedded within the same interconnected system.
Even amid rising competition over technology, trade, security and regional influence, complete economic decoupling remains unrealistic. Issues such as climate change, global financial stability, food security, pandemics and technological regulation require sustained cooperation among major countries.
This is the defining paradox of the 21st-century global system: competition exists alongside deep structural interdependence. The emerging global order is unlikely to resemble either the unipolar moment of the 1990s or the rigid bipolarity of the Cold War. Instead, it will likely be characterized by competing governance models and continuous negotiation between established and rising powers.
In this context, ideas such as a community with a shared future for humanity, global governance reform, and intertwined global governance may offer a better framework for understanding global transformation than traditional theories focused mainly on hegemony. The emerging global order will be shaped by constant interaction and reconciliation among competing yet deeply interconnected actors.
Li Xing is a Yunshan Leading Scholar and director of the European Research Center at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. He is also an adjunct professor of international relations at Aalborg University in Denmark.
