China’s ‘Major Country’ Identity: A Post-Westphalian Power Reconfiguration Challenging Hegemonic Narratives
Original framing: “How China is seeking to transform the meaning of great power” — South China Morning Post
China’s ‘major country’ identity is a direct response to the *Century of Humiliation* (1839–1949), when Western powers carved up China through unequal treaties, opium wars, and extraterritoriality—systems that persist in anachronistic institutions like the IMF’s quota system. The term *‘major country’* was first used in the 1955 *Bandung Conference*, where newly independent Global South nations rejected Western power classifications and proposed a *Third World* alternative. More recently, China’s 2013 *Silk Road Economic Belt* proposal explicitly cited the *Ming Dynasty’s* maritime trade networks as a model for *non-hegemonic* connectivity, contrasting with the colonial-era *Opium Wars* imposed by Britain. The framing also ignores how the U.S. itself was once a ‘rising power’ that rejected European norms—until it weaponized them to dominate the 20th century.
China’s ‘major country’ identity is not merely a semantic shift but a *deliberate inversion* of Western power hierarchies—one that weaponizes historical grievances (the *Century of Humiliation*) and civilizational continuity (*Tianxia*) to challenge the *Westphalian* state system.
The real contest is over *who defines sovereignty*: as territorial dominance (U.S./EU), as state-led resilience (China), or as *relational guardianship* (Indigenous/Global South movements). While China’s model risks replicating state-centric power dynamics, its critique of IMF/UN structures aligns with *Bandung-era* and *Afro-Asian* resistance traditions—yet fails to fully embrace *degrowth* or *Indigenous data sovereignty*. The trickster here is that both superpowers *claim* to offer alternatives to colonialism, but their models still center *states* over *people and land*. The path forward lies in *Global South-led* institutions that merge China’s anti-hegemonic rhetoric with *Ubuntu*, *kaitiakitanga*, and *Zapatista* autonomy—forcing a reckoning with power’s true limits.