Editor's note: Zhou Jianjun is an assistant researcher at the Institute of State System Research and School of Economics, Zhejiang University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. It has been translated from Chinese and edited for brevity and clarity.

In 2025, China officially proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), aiming to address governance dilemmas inherent in the Western-centric paradigm. Under the old framework, global governance has increasingly become subordinated to the logic of capital, resulting in a pronounced development deficit. In contrast to the "country-first" jungle law, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as a practical platform for a new global governance paradigm, demonstrates remarkable contemporary relevance. By providing high-quality international public goods, the initiative is powerfully driving the transformation of the international order from an outdated, capital-dominated model toward a new paradigm centered on building a community with a shared future for humanity.

The Western-dominated model of global governance is mired in difficulty, with unchecked capital expansion giving rise to a deepening governance deficit. The existing global governance system is rooted in Western-centrism and operates on the core logic of unlimited capital expansion. This model prioritizes market efficiency and the free movement of capital, turning global governance mechanisms largely into instruments serving Western interests, with a bias toward financial profiteering and resource extraction. The neglect of inclusive and sustainable development has further aggravated the global governance deficit, triggering a range of global challenges, including widening wealth gaps, persistent regional conflicts, and growing instability.

The history has reaffirmed that the Western-led model is incapable of addressing the long-term and increasingly complex transnational issues. In today's intricate international political and economic landscape, capital expansion alone has shown its limitations and is unable to effectively respond to the shared challenges facing the world in the mid-21st century.

China's Global Governance Initiative offers a new approach, reshaping the foundation of collective action through a philosophy of cooperation. Unlike the Western-dominated model, the GGI upholds sovereign equality, respect for international law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach, and a strong focus on practical action. These principles reject the capital-first logic driven by narrow interests and replace it with the philosophy of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. 

The GGI proposed by China seeks to establish a new set of value norms: Firstly, all countries, regardless of size, strength, or level of development, should participate in global governance on an equal footing, with equal rights in decision-making and equal access to its benefits. Secondly, international law and international rules should be applied uniformly and fairly, without double standards or the imposition of the "house rules" of a few countries on others. Thirdly, solidarity and cooperation should be strengthened, unilateralism firmly opposed, and the status and authority of the United Nations resolutely upheld. Fourthly, people of all countries should be entitled to meaningful participation in global governance and share its outcomes. Fifthly, global actions should be better coordinated, and resources from all parties should be fully mobilized so that more tangible and visible results could be delivered. Rooted in the Eastern wisdom of win-win cooperation, the GGI provides a critical framework for transcending the jungle law and building a more just and equitable global governance system.

The Belt and Road Initiative serves as a key platform for China to put the new governance paradigm into practice, transforming the cooperative philosophy into concrete results through the provision of public goods and services. Unlike Western models, the BRI focuses on policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people ties between China and participating countries. 

Through policy coordination, the BRI enhances policy alignment and mutual trust between China and partner countries. Through developing infrastructure, it improves integrated connectivity across land, maritime, air, and cyberspace. Through unimpeded trade, it promotes mutual exchange and complementarity between China and concerned countries, maximizing both economic gains and consumer welfare. Through financial integration, China provides financial support for economic development in partner countries. Through people-to-people ties, the initiative fosters closer bonds, mutual understanding, and shared identity between the peoples of China and the Belt and Road partner countries. This cooperation-centered model anchors momentum in the creation of real value, demonstrating that mutual benefit and win-win outcomes are the right path to unlocking global growth potential.

The shift from capital expansion to cooperative development hinges on building a community with a shared future for mankind. It's a transition from a vertical order based on power and capital advantage to a community grounded in interdependence and shared responsibility. This vision offers a crucial pathway for transforming global governance from capital-driven expansion to cooperative development. 

Through promoting common development, the Global Governance Initiative consolidates the material foundation of cooperation; through advocating common security, it strengthens the cornerstone of stability; and through advancing dialogue among civilizations, it cultivates fertile ground for harmony. 

Future global governance will place greater emphasis on balancing efficiency and equity, growth and ecological protection, and national sovereignty and shared responsibility in a systematic manner. The new model advocated by China directly responds to these evolving needs. By advancing collective efforts toward shared prosperity, the Global Governance Initiative has injected much-needed confidence in cooperation into the international community.