Humanities Colloquium- Lye Liang Fook (National University of Singapore): China and Global Governance: Being More Active on a Selective Basis

China is coming under greater international pressure to provide more global public goods in line with its rising international status. Under President Xi Jinping, however, China has generally remained cautious in carrying out this role. Yet under this overall cautious approach, there are signs of China playing a more active role in at least two areas. For one, China appears to be focussed on re-shaping the international economic and financial order to its advantage. It has been particular active in pushing for the establishment of new financial institutions to, in its own words, complement existing multilateral development banks. Second, in combating piracy off the coast of Somalia, China has apparently stepped up efforts to play up the softer aspects of its hardware contributions. In these two areas, we see a China that is ready and comfortable in providing the public goods that the international community expects.

Paper