The international order is undergoing a profound transformation as global power shifts away from its traditional Western centers toward Asia and the Global South. Against this backdrop, improving relations between China and the United States has become increasingly important-not only for the two powers themselves, but also for the stability, security and prosperity of the wider world.

This was a central theme of the 12th North Pavilion Dialogue, organized by the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University. At a public forum on October 16, four prominent international affairs experts discussed the changing balance of power, the growing influence of middle powers, the strategic choices facing the Global South and the future of China-US relations.

A world moving beyond the old order

Shivshankar Menon, India’s former national security adviser and foreign secretary, argued that the world is returning to a historical pattern in which power is distributed among a wider range of countries rather than concentrated in a small number of dominant states.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union accounted for a substantial share of global military power. Today, that concentration has diminished, creating a more complicated international environment in which middle powers and developing nations have greater opportunities to influence global affairs.

Menon suggested that the growing interest in BRICS reflects the desire of many countries to find alternatives to an international system they consider increasingly inadequate. Rather than treating the apparent decline of the previous order as a crisis in itself, he viewed it as part of a broader transition.

Despite geopolitical tensions, the world remains economically interconnected. Global trade continues to link countries through a shared economic system, making a complete separation into competing economic and ideological blocs neither inevitable nor desirable. Menon pointed to Asia as an example of pragmatic diplomacy, noting that........

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