In January, the US announced that it was leaving 66 international organizations and agreements, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and a number of others. The decisions are the responsibility of President Donald Trump, who apparently believes that these organizations do not serve US interests.
At the same time, in January, Chinese President Xi Jinping received heads of state and government from Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom. “The international order is under great pressure“, he told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and called for “joint efforts to build an equal and orderly multipolar world“. This message is not new in China’s diplomatic jargon, but it takes on greater significance in light of the US withdrawal from international institutions.
Where the US is withdrawing, China remains a committed member and is attracting increasing global attention. According to a recent international survey conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank in 21 countries, including 10 members of the European Union (EU), respondents expect China’s global influence to increase over the next decade. “In the past, the gap in power between the US and China was much more pronounced, but now it is narrowing. "The US remains the most powerful country in the world, but China is catching up very quickly," Klaus Sung, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, told DW.
China is reaching out to the Global South
The Global South, which encompasses some developing and rapidly growing economies around the world, has long played a central role in Beijing's strategy. The "Belt and Road" initiative (also known as the "New Silk Road"), for example, spans the globe. The massive infrastructure investment program was launched in 2013 with the aim of expanding Chinese influence in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Support from the Global South is a "crucial factor" for China given the restrictions imposed by the West, Sung said. "A strong politician needs supporters to back him up to justify his leadership role," he added.
Earlier this year, China released statistics that showed economic resilience despite growing pressure from U.S. tariffs. China's gross domestic product grew by 5% in 2025, and the country retained its title of "world's export champion." The positive developments were largely driven by exports to markets outside the United States, particularly Southeast Asia.
However, China's strategy also carries risks. In recent years, Beijing has transformed the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, focusing on smaller, targeted investments instead of large infrastructure projects that require huge capital. This also reduces financial risks for creditors. And the countries that receive loans need not worry about going into too much debt.
Authoritarian countries speak with one voice
China's close ties with Russia and North Korea - all authoritarian countries - have caused discontent among the rest of the world. During a military parade in Beijing last year, Xi met with the heads of state of Russia and North Korea - Putin and Kim - and stressed to them the need for the three countries to act in a common alliance on political and security issues. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also attended the military parade with his daughter. In the West, these four countries are also known as “CRIS“ – from the first letters of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Each of China's authoritarian partners has its own motives, says Sabine Mokri of the Institute for Peace and Security Policy Research at the University of Hamburg. “China has calculated exactly what it can get from each regime.“ The fact that this coalition of four countries acts in sync on the international stage is also evident in the behavior of their representatives in the UN General Assembly: there, China increasingly votes in sync with its allies, especially when it comes to human rights and the war in Ukraine.
The only thing they have in common, however, is that the CRIS countries oppose the United States. They are not a community based on values, says Mokri. “When an opportunity arises to demonstrate their cooperation, they seize it. But fundamentally, there is still a deep distrust between them," she adds.
China as a "stabilizing force"
For several years, China has emphasized that it is a responsible and stabilizing force in the world - in contrast to what Beijing calls "US hegemony". However, analysts believe that Beijing's goal is not to replace the US-led international order with a Chinese version. Rather, it seems that the main goal of the Chinese government is to ensure that the Chinese Communist Party remains in power.
"It is not about some ambition to rule the world", Mokri told DW, adding that every political decision must be seen "always from the perspective of regime survival". It is unlikely that China will take over leadership in all the institutions from which the US has withdrawn, believes Klaus Sung of the Mercator Institute. This would only happen if it was in China's direct national security interest, for example in the World Health Organization (WHO), from which the breakaway province of Taiwan was excluded even as an observer. The US, in turn, cited Taiwan's non-participation as one of the reasons for its withdrawal from this organization.
China wants to displace the US from Asia
Analysts say that China's selective engagement highlights its main goal - Beijing does not want to dominate the global system, but to reduce US influence in regions that China considers strategically important, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Beijing would be very happy if it could just do whatever it wanted in Asia“, says Sabine Mokri from. But US influence in the region remains "fundamentally important and it is not so easy to change that," adds the representative of the Hamburg Institute for Peace and Security Policy Research.
Author: Li Yuchen