Is China promising a new world order or making a self-serving power play?

Observers have watched as China launched a sweeping outreach strategy intended to strengthen ties with Russian and Southeast Asian trade partners while also welcoming Latin American and European stakeholders. While many Southeast Asian nations have been open to China's call for a multipolar world, they have also been assessing whether Beijing was "fully living up to" the ideals it has been pitching, especially when it comes to its approach on the South China Sea, according to Dylan Loh, a Chinese foreign policy specialist at NTU Singapore. "While [China] speaks of an equitable, multipolar and just world, [Southeast Asian] states are also assessing if this is the case. Its actions in the South China Sea, for instance, are seen by some as not fully aligning with some of the principles it espouses," he said.

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