China’s rapid economic and political ascension is reshaping the architecture of global economic governance. In some cases, Chinese initiatives complement existing multilateral structures; in others, they challenge or circumvent them entirely. This new special issue of the Review of International Political Economy, guest edited by Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt (Technical University of Munich) and Susan Park (University of Sydney), provides a comprehensive analysis of how China seeks to reconfigure global economic governance in an era of shifting power.

The volume examines China’s role across key domains such as development finance, trade, and sovereign debt restructuring. It presents detailed, empirically grounded studies of China’s strategies—ranging from deep cooperation to active contestation—and explores how and why China chooses to support, challenge, or reform multilateral economic institutions. In doing so, the special issue offers new theoretical and practical insights into the dynamics of global governance amid China’s rise and the responses of established powers like the United States.

The following articles are two selected contributions from the special issue:

  • Heldt, E. C., Schmidtke, H., & Serrano Oswald, O. (2025). Multilateralism à la carte: how China navigates global economic institutions. Review of International Political Economy 32(4), 899-921. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2025.249569