Beijing needs a unifying proposal to replace the current world order that is being upended by US unpredictability
3-MIN READ3-MINMarshall LiPublished: 8:30pm, 13 Apr 2026In Beijing, strategic elites have started to see world politics as sliding from the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States era. However, if China believes the old order is falling apart, its future will depend less on economic power and more on presenting a reliable political vision.
Yet from Beijing’s vantage point, that metaphor is losing its explanatory power.
In the Middle East, US allies are engaging with Iran regardless of how Washington feels about it. Across Europe and North America, governments are accelerating efforts to rearm and build greater strategic autonomy. Many, including China, now question the stability of the global order established after the second world war.
