China hosts global governance forum in Xiongan with delegates from over 90 countries

The 2026 Global Governance Forum (Xiongan) opened on Friday in Xiongan New Area, north China's Hebei Province, hosted by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs under the theme "Rebuilding Confidence and Cooperation: Reforming and Improving Global Governance in a Transforming World." Nearly 400 representatives from strategic, political, academic, business, media and youth sectors, drawn from more than 90 countries and international and regional organizations including the United Nations, attended the event.

In a message to the forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the world is undergoing accelerated transformation unseen in a century, with deficits in peace, development, security and governance growing rather than diminishing. Xi said he had put forward the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) to promote a more just and equitable global governance system and a better world. He said China stands ready to work with all parties to uphold a vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, to pool strength through confidence-building and tackle challenges through cooperation, and called for efforts to promote implementation of the GGI to inject more certainty into a world of turbulence and transformation.

Selcuk Colakoglu, director of the Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, said the forum offers a window for the world to follow China's vision for global governance, with a key point being to invite all countries to communicate, build and share outcomes together. Former Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari said the GGI emphasizes sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach and practical outcomes. She said the world faces severe challenges including economic inequality, poverty, geopolitical tensions, armed conflicts, climate change and food security, while rising protectionism and unilateralism further complicate international cooperation, and that no single country can address these shared challenges alone.

Former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev said countries of the Global South support the GGI and want a world of growth, cooperation and progress instead of hegemony or interference. UN Under-Secretary-General Guy Ryder said the system is still designed without giving developing countries sufficient weight and that there is a need in the United Nations to reform governance systems.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it is important to enhance the representation and voice of the Global South in international affairs, advance reform of the international financial system according to the agreed timetable and roadmap, increase developing countries' representation in the Security Council, and give full play to emerging multilateral mechanisms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Wang also called for improving governance rules in emerging fields, turning the deep sea, polar regions and outer space into areas of international cooperation, and evolving an artificial intelligence governance structure based on general consensus. On the sidelines of the forum, Wang told Asia Society Board of Trustees co-chair John L. Thornton and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman that China and the United States have both the capability and the responsibility to jointly develop and govern AI well, ensuring its development remains under human control and benefits the people. Thornton and Friedman said the international community is closely watching the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting hosted by China and expects China to play a unique and positive role in tackling global challenges. According to Xinhua, the forum brought together participants to discuss reform of global governance.