Significance of GGI hinges on real actions: China Daily editorial

At a time when the world is struggling with geopolitical tensions and a fragmented global order, the question is no longer whether global governance needs reform, but who is prepared to turn reform into reality.

The 2026 Global Governance Forum, held in Xiong'an, Hebei province, from Friday to Sunday, offered a timely answer. In his keynote address at the opening ceremony, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined China's concrete measures to advance the Global Governance Initiative.

Put forward by President Xi Jinping in 2025, the GGI responds to a fundamental contradiction of contemporary international relations: global challenges are becoming increasingly interconnected, while the institutions responsible for addressing them are struggling to keep pace.

Climate change illustrates this predicament. Despite successive international agreements, collective action remains insufficient to meet agreed climate goals. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization, a cornerstone of international economic cooperation, faces mounting challenges from protectionism, unilateralism and the weakening of multilateral dispute settlement. These are not simply failures of different countries' political will. They expose structural weaknesses in a governance system whose effectiveness has failed to match the growing complexity of global interdependence.

The GGI recognizes that global challenges cannot be addressed through the authority of individual states or the dominance of a handful of major Western countries.

Effective global governance requires broad participation, institutional coordination and collective responsibility. In an increasingly interconnected world, international institutions play an indispensable role in reducing uncertainty, facilitating cooperation and establishing predictable rules that enable countries with different interests to pursue common objectives.

Yet institutions derive their legitimacy not merely from their existence, but from their effectiveness. Their value ultimately depends on whether they can translate international consensus into coordinated action and deliver tangible benefits, particularly for the developing countries that have long been underrepresented in global decision-making. The GGI builds on this by advocating sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach and action-oriented cooperation. Rather than seeking to replace the existing international system, it aims to make that system more representative, responsive and effective.

For global governance, the true measure of responsibility is the effectiveness of action. China's actions reflect precisely this emphasis on implementation. The country has actively provided new public goods: the International Organization for Mediation has successfully settled international disputes; and the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization initiated by China has taken a clear stand to advance AI for good and for all humanity.

And Wang said, China will work for the full and effective implementation of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement. As one of the first States Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, the country fully supports Xiamen's bid to host the BBNJ Secretariat. That speaks to the nation's desire to make new and important contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and the advancement of global maritime governance.

Economic cooperation offers further evidence. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has expanded to 111 members, with hundreds of approved projects supporting infrastructure and connectivity. China's zero-tariff treatment for eligible African countries illustrates how trade policy can serve broader development objectives.

Such measures matter because the meaning of global governance ultimately depends on its capacity to improve people's lives, particularly in the Global South.

The significance of the GGI encompasses not only Chinese wisdom, but more importantly Chinese solutions, actions and demonstrable results.

At a moment when multilateralism and coordination are being tested by unilateralism and division, the GGI's insistence on translating consensus into cooperation and cooperation into results offers a constructive pathway toward a more stable, inclusive and sustainable international order.