It is inevitable that China will play a dominant role in global governance, said Joseph Lemoine, deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Freedom and Prosperity Center; and Yomna Gaafar, assistant director at the Freedom and Prosperity Center, in an article titled There's more to China's new Global Development Initiative than meets the eye published in Atlantic Council on Aug 18.

In the article, Joseph said that China has shifted its international development strategy from a bilateral to a multilateral one through building up its influence in traditional global organizations such as the World Bank and the UN Development Program as well as launching alternative initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative and China's new Global Development Initiative (GDI).

"The way China's new Global Development Initiative (GDI) was announced last September shows how much the country's status and role in global governance has changed," noted Joseph. "In some ways, this is a positive development".

China's new Global Development Initiative (GDI) was well-received. According to the article, more than fifty-five countries have voiced their support for the initiative—calling themselves the Group of Friends of Global Development Initiative in less than a year after its launch.

China has already gained praise within developing countries and international organizations, Joseph addressed. "The West's failure to deliver vaccines to poor countries has increased resentment toward US-centric global governance, and while the West remains focused on the war in Ukraine, China continues to build its soft power elsewhere".

Joseph added that US' leadership and dominance is on the decline, coupled with the climate and COVID-19 crises, China seized an empty space. China has tried to turn this challenge into an opportunity to boost its international influence by flooding the world with medical aid and vaccines. On climate, it has become the world's biggest investor in renewable energy. "It is inevitable that China will play a dominant role in global governance," Joseph said.