International observers participating in the ongoing 2025 Understanding China Conference praised the country's constructive proposals for the evolving global governance landscape, highlighting the significance of China's new Global Governance Initiative (GGI).
The conference, its eighth edition, opened on Sunday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.
Under the theme "New Plan, New Development, New Choices - Chinese Modernization and New Vision for Global Governance," the conference focuses on China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) and its global significance.
Their discussions touched on the new plan for the innovative development of Chinese modernization, the new opportunities it offers for global modernization, and the joint advancement of the GGI, which was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Plus Meeting in September.
This year's conference attracted a wide and strong representativeness of international attendees.
International guests from diverse backgrounds shared their specific observations on China's approach to global governance.
Timofei Bordachev, programme director of the Valdai Discussion Club, noted that China's proposals are grounded in substantial international experience. "China is acting as a global player, proposing the new vision of just world governance, which is already the vision is based not only on the Chinese considerations, but on the accumulation of international experiences during the last 15 years. And we have seen that China has organized many international forums, China is actively participating in existing international forums, so China has a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge (on) what other countries of the world actually want from the multi-polar change," said Bordachev.
Thomas Bork, director of the Program Development International Exchange Center at the China Foreign Affairs University, viewed China's push as a move towards a more democratic and multilateral global governance system.
"The idea of a global governance has actually been around for a very long time and it's been implemented and pulled back. And I see that now there's a very powerful country called China that wants to bring that idea back and to have it more democratic, actually. More countries involved in, it's said, like the Big Five in the UN (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) or so, they have more of a multilateral approach to things. So that's a very positive thing," said Bork.
Josaia Goweni, special administrator of Suva City Council, Fiji, highlighted the appeal of China's development model as an alternative that respects sovereignty and fits local contexts.
"It's related to the independence of each sovereignty, the respect of each sovereignty. And also, there are no Western -- not only one form of development -- which we are normally known throughout the international arena as the international, the global Western model of development. We also have the South-South development, which is now pioneered by China, which is now being marketed by them, which we see that it can fit into our own domestic environment," said Goweni.
The Understanding China Conference will run through Tuesday.
International observers highlight significance of Global Governance Initiative
