The rise of China since 1978 has not only changed the global power balance as measurable in economic and security terms, but also in terms of its ability to define what is normal in the global political economy. In other words, to grasp the role of Global China today it is insufficient to only provide data on its economic growth, investment abroad, or the build-up of its military, illustrating the narrowing gap between Beijing and the West. The way China “extends the universe of what is thinkable, sayable and accepted as legitimate” on the world stage, thereby effectively pluralizing and diversifying the global ideoscape, is an additional and particularly consequential aspect of China’s rise, which is often overlooked or misrecognized.

Anastas Vangeli (T.wai & University of Ljubljana) is author of the article “Normative powers in flux: how the rise of China changed Europe” for IDEES.