Evolving Global Order: China-US Reset

The Event “Evolving Global Order: China–US Reset,” organised by the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS), Lahore, convened scholars, policymakers, and strategic analysts to examine the structural transformation of the international system amid intensifying rivalry between the US and China. The discussion focused on how shifting power balances, economic statecraft, and institutional contestation are reshaping global governance, with particular attention to the implications for middle powers and regional stability. Rather than treating China–US tensions as episodic or crisis-driven, the event approached them as a long-term systemic reset with enduring consequences for the emerging world order.

 

Mr Shahid Javed Burki, Chairman of the Burki Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) and former Vice President of the World Bank, provided the central analytical framework for the discussion by situating China’s rise within a historical and structural context. He argued that the international system is moving away from US-led unipolarity towards a contested bipolar configuration, where economic power, technology, and connectivity matter as much as military strength. China’s ascent was characterised by deliberate state-led development, sustained investment in human capital and infrastructure, and a pragmatic external engagement strategy that prioritises long-term partnerships over ideological alignment. Initiatives such as the Belt and Road, including the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, were discussed as instruments that combine development objectives with strategic depth, offering alternative pathways of integration for developing economies.

 

The event contrasted this trajectory with the evolving US response, which increasingly relies on economic coercion, trade restrictions, technology controls, and political leverage within multilateral institutions. This approach was interpreted as reflecting structural anxiety over relative decline rather than a coherent accommodation strategy. As a result, global institutions that once underpinned liberal economic cooperation are facing politicisation, narrowing the policy space for developing states. The discussion highlighted how economic statecraft has become the primary arena of competition, with supply chains, critical minerals, energy routes, and financial systems emerging as central instruments of power in the China–US reset.

 

A significant portion of the deliberations addressed the implications for Pakistan and similar middle powers positioned at the intersection of competing strategic and economic systems. Pakistan was portrayed not as a passive arena for great-power rivalry but as a strategic fulcrum whose geography, demography and connectivity grant it agency, provided policy choices remain informed and calibrated. The event underscored the risks posed by information warfare and narrative contestation, noting how disinformation campaigns can undermine investor confidence, politicise development projects, and exacerbate domestic polarisation. At the same time, Pakistan’s youthful population was identified as a potential strategic asset, particularly in light of China’s ageing demographics, if effectively leveraged through skills development, technology transfer, and industrial integration.

 

In his concluding remarks, Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd), President, CASS, Lahore, highlighted that the China-US relationship is the decisive factor reshaping the strategic, economic, and institutional contours of the twenty-first century. He observed that while strategic rivalry is structural and enduring, cooperation in areas of shared interest remains a practical necessity for global stability. He further noted that technology competition has emerged as a central fault line, requiring a balance between legitimate security concerns and the benefits of economic efficiency to avoid fragmenting the global economy.