Is China fundamentally transforming the global order, or do existing structures of international relations constrain its ambitions? The Routledge Handbook on Global China (2025) examines China's impact on global politics, economics, and governance, from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to its growing influence in technology, development aid, and cultural diplomacy. It also identifies epistemic traps, such as othering and strategic narcissism, that hinder a deeper understanding of 'Global China'. Drawing on the Handbook’s conceptual framework, Marina Rudyak’s presentation will explore China's global narratives and narrative power, illustrating how the country both challenges and integrates with existing international institutions.
Conversely, Friso Stevens’ interdisciplinary book ‘Chinese Assertiveness, Ideational Mobilization, and the Rise of Xi Jinping’ (2025) integrates international relations (IR) theory with a historical reinterpretation and deep China expertise to argue that China’s post-2008 shift toward greater assertiveness was driven by evolving ideas about its desired place in East Asia’s regional order. Chinese Communist Party propaganda offers compelling evidence that there is much greater continuity between the Hu and Xi eras than is exhibited in the existing literature. Moreover, the book traces the ideological sources of Chinese assertiveness back to the New Left movement and the Patriotic Education Campaign of the 1990s. Lastly, the book further attributes the turning point in the late 2000s, as well as the selection of Xi as a compromise candidate, to decisions made by previous leaders.