China in a World of Orders: Rethinking Compliance and Challenge in Beijing’s International Relations

Debate over China’s challenge to the liberal international order is widespread, but conceptual confusion persists over the nature of the order itself. Scholars and analysts should consider China’s actions in relation to multiple orders in different domains (e.g., military, human rights, trade, the environment, and information), rather than a single, U.S.-dominated liberal order. This conceptualization reveals that China interacts differently with different orders—supportive of some, unsupportive of others, and partially supportive of still others.