The crucial 2020s

Zero-sum competition, China and multilateralism

Abstract

While the international order has long been in flux, the pace of change has recently accelerated. A significant, and most likely bumpy, transformation of established rules is in sight. Since China’s approach to order-making is a key lever of this process, its discourse on multilateralism – the organizing principle of the current order – is under unprecedented scrutiny. In this context, Beijing’s appeal to “true multilateralism” is often singled out as instrumental and cunning. This article offers a complementary explanation of China’s ambiguous discourse on, and shrewd resort to, multilateralism, beside the search for legitimation and the promotion of its own conceptions of principles and norms within international organizations. Beijing’s preoccupation that the international system may enter a full-blown zero-sum modality undermining global stability may explain why it assigns a prominent role to an undemanding variant of multilateralism which falls short of established practices, but can anyhow temper competition by blurring dividing lines among groupings.