Beyond multilateralism: China’s international order building through transnational policy forums

As China has risen, it has engaged in the creation and expansion of new international institutions and initiatives. Alongside founding multilateral institutions, China has also constructed a range of informal platforms and forums to expand its connections with foreign publics and elites. This article conceptualizes these informal bodies as transnational policy forums and investigates how they fit into China’s efforts at international order building. Unlike formal or informal intergovernmental organizations, transnational policy forums are not primarily designed to foster international cooperation. Instead, China uses transnational forums for their informational benefits, to foster strategic social interactions, and to provide platforms to exercise discursive influence. By fostering controlled interactions with elites from abroad, such forums serve to boost the Chinese government’s position in transnational social networks, to reshape international norms, and to socialize foreign elites. In short, transnational policy forums allow China to shape international order beyond multilateralism. The article develops this argument with a special focus on the South-South Human Rights Forum as an exemplary case, where China seeks to redefine human rights and blunt the liberal normativity of international order.