China’s challenge to the Western-led international order

This paper addresses China’s challenges to the current international order. We assess the present stage of competition between the West and China for the “hearts and minds” of people worldwide and provide explanations for why certain audiences find China favourable and want to align with it over the West. To do so, we consult unique new data produced as part of the Sinophone Borderlands project in collaboration with CEIAS. A series of representative online public opinion surveys were conducted in 56 countries between 2020 and 2022, investigating global attitudes toward an array of general international affairs as well as specific China-related issues.