This article is an opinion piece discussing Chinese leader Xi Jinping's efforts to position China as the dominant force in global governance by filling gaps left by U.S. withdrawal from international organizations like the United Nations. Xi aims to influence technical standards and human rights agendas within these bodies while also courting developing countries with promises of trade, investment, and technology through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative. The author highlights Xi's recent diplomatic moves, including visits to Global South nations and pledges of infrastructure development, as part of a strategic narrative that portrays China as a responsible global leader in contrast to America’s perceived abandonment of its post-World War II role.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The last time US President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations, he mocked the body for its “empty words,” and his administration has since exited 31 UN entities covering climate, gender, peacebuilding, and science.
asserted
administration → address → climate
China is only too eager to fill the gaps.
asserted
China → fill → gaps
Its diplomats are packing UN agencies to shape their agendas, especially those that deal with technical standards — Beijing wants to write the rules for AI and other frontier technologies — and human rights, where China feels vulnerable to Western attacks.
asserted
China → pack → attacks
Bloomberg reported last month that Chinese authorities are mulling a bid to host the UN climate summit in 2028.
asserted
authorities → report → 2028
One senior Chinese academic says Beijing should press for the relocation of the UN headquarters from New York to Shanghai (or, as he put it, “from the Hudson to the Huangpu.“)
asserted
he → say → Huangpu
That won’t happen anytime soon.
asserted
That → happen → ?
But Chinese leader Xi Jinping clearly sees history headed in that direction.
asserted
history → see → direction
As he prepares for a summit this month with Trump in Washington, DC, Xi has embarked on a whirlwind tour of Global South countries to sell a story that the US has turned rogue, having given up on the progressive institutions it created after World War II, including the UN and its associated agencies.
asserted
it → prepare → UN
In his telling, Beijing is now the responsible steward of that system, standing firm against “double standards, exceptionalism, foreign interference, bullying, and law of the jungle.”
asserted
Beijing → stand → jungle
In effect, Xi is trolling Trump as he lobbies the world’s most populous and fastest growing economies.
asserted
he → troll → economies
It’s a geopolitical power move aimed at shaping the dynamics of their meeting.
asserted
It → ’ → meeting
Julian Gewirtz, a prominent China scholar, says Xi wants to show that Beijing has “friends and options around the world.”
asserted
Beijing → say → world
Of course, it’s easy to see through the hypocrisy behind Xi’s messaging — just ask the Philippines about China’s bullying — but his pitch still resonates with developing countries that resent the US-led status quo, and it’s accompanied by pledges of trade, investment, and technology.
asserted
it → ’ → trade
In Kyrgyzstan last month, Xi inked agreements to integrate the economy of western China more closely with Central Asia, advancing an inter-bank payment system, border-crossing infrastructure, and a freight railway link that will require the construction of 50 bridges and 29 tunnels.
asserted
that → ink → bridges
Days later in Egypt, Africa’s second largest economy now staggering under the impact of the wars in Iran and Gaza — Cairo’s revenues from the Suez Canal have cratered by 60% — Xi offered help on AI development.
asserted
Xi → stagger → development
Huawei is reportedly bidding to construct data centers for the Egyptian government and supply high-end chips.
uncertain
Huawei → bid → chips
Among leading Chinese academics, there’s little doubt that a Sinocentric order is approaching.
asserted
order → lead → academics
“Pax Americana is coming to an end,” asserts the international relations expert Da Wei, a professor at Tsinghua University.
asserted
expert → come → University
“America has not simply decided that it ‘does not want to be a hegemon’ any longer.
asserted
it → decide → ?
More accurately, America is unwilling to continue bearing the costs.
asserted
America → continue → costs
In fact, China has little interest in replacing the US as the chief financier of global “public goods.”
asserted
China → have → goods
Beijing is quite happy, for now at least, to watch as the US drains its treasure policing the world’s sea lanes, keeping transnational drug gangs and fraudsters in check, and maintaining global financial stability.
asserted
US → watch → stability
It funds 20% of the body’s regular budget, just behind the US, and is the second largest contributor to peacekeeping operations, but doesn’t come close to matching the US when it comes to underwriting global economic development and humanitarian operations.
asserted
it → fund → development
More than anything, Beijing is pushing the UN to mirror its political values both as a defensive strategy — autocracies have a pathological fear of democracy, “color” revolutions, and the liberal ideas that animate them — and an offensive play: China’s ultimate goal is to replace the US at the heart of global governance, which means challenging democratic norms.
asserted
which → push → norms
In Washington, Xi’s ostensible agenda will be preserving the “constructive strategic stability” that he and Trump agreed upon at their last summit, in Beijing in May.
uncertain
he → preserve → May
But his true ambition is immensely disruptive: One at a time, in the run-up to his White House talks and state dinner, Xi is winning over voting members of the UN, building the grand coalition he needs to move China, as he describes it, “closer to center stage.”
Notable
- A new book by China scholars seeks to fill a vacuum in the “vocabulary or concepts to understand” Beijing’s foreign policy strategy, the president of the European Council on Foreign Relations writes in the Financial Times.
asserted
president → win → Times
The Aporia
