Right now, as we in Fremantle begin preparing ourselves for the Freo Dockers AFL Elimination Final this Saturday night, China is hosting two major events: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin and a military parade in Beijing commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. President Xi Jinping is rolling out the red carpet for a wide array of global leaders, signaling Beijing’s growing diplomatic clout.
Key World Leaders attending the big SCO Summit include: Vladimir Putin – President of Russia, Masoud Pezeshkian – President of Iran, Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – President of Turkey, Mustafa Madbouly – Prime Minister of Egypt, Leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Belarus, Representatives from observer states like Afghanistan and Mongolia, Delegates from dialogue partners including Laos, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
When our Editor, Michael Barker, read this news he just couldn’t help wondering what the world order might possibly look like if China were to assume the mantle of global dominance once held by the USA. So he thought it would be interesting to find out what the fine minds behind his favourite AI Agent, Copilot, can imagine.
Now, we aren’t saying the imagination of these Copilot thinkers is correct, or what they imagine will happen, but it’s an interesting way to get one thinking about what is happening and what may be at stake in these times of global economic and security upheaval.
In short, the Copilot thinkers suggested that the world wouldn’t simply be reshaped economically or militarily if China were to assume the mantle of global dominance – it would be reimagined culturally, institutionally, and morally.
And they then sketched out for us a few contours of this imagined new world order. Here’s what they imagine, verbatim.
🌏 The Architecture of a China-Led World
🏛️ Governance & Global Institutions
• Multilateralism with Chinese Characteristics: Institutions like the UN, IMF, and WTO might be restructured or sidelined in favour of new bodies—perhaps led by BRICS+ or Belt and Road-style coalitions—with governance norms rooted in consensus, hierarchy, and state sovereignty over liberal individualism.
• Digital Authoritarianism as Export: Surveillance infrastructure, social credit systems, and AI-driven governance could become normalized in developing nations seeking Chinese investment and tech partnerships.
💰 Economic Systems & Trade
• Yuan as Reserve Currency: The renminbi could replace the dollar in global reserves and trade settlements, especially across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This would shift financial power toward Beijing’s regulatory orbit.
• State-Capital Hybrid Model: The Chinese model of strategic state intervention in markets—especially in tech, energy, and infrastructure—might become the blueprint for growth, displacing neoliberal orthodoxy.
🛰️ Technology & Infrastructure
• Digital Silk Road: China’s dominance in 5G, AI, and quantum computing could mean global reliance on Chinese tech standards, platforms, and data ecosystems.
• Smart Cities with Chinese DNA: Urban planning might reflect high-density, transit-oriented development with embedded surveillance and centralized control—echoes of Shenzhen or Hangzhou rather than Silicon Valley.
🎓 Culture, Values & Soft Power
• Confucian Revival: Values like harmony, filial piety, and collective responsibility could gain traction globally, challenging Western liberalism’s emphasis on individual rights and adversarial politics.
• Media & Narrative Control: Chinese platforms (WeChat, TikTok’s parent ByteDance, etc.) might dominate global discourse, shaping narratives through state-aligned algorithms and content moderation.
⚖️ Tensions & Trade-offs
• Human Rights vs Stability: The moral architecture of global governance could shift from rights-based frameworks to stability-first paradigms. This might appeal to regimes wary of Western interventionism but raise alarms among civil society advocates.
• Climate Leadership with Contradictions: China’s green tech dominance (solar, EVs) could accelerate decarbonization, but its coal-heavy energy mix and extractive diplomacy might complicate the narrative.
• Global South Realignment: Many nations might find more agency in a multipolar world, leveraging Chinese investment to escape Western debt traps—while risking new forms of dependency.
These Copilot thinkers added that this imagined world isn’t just about power – it’s about meaning. What stories would we tell ourselves about progress, dignity, and justice in a China-led order? And how would Fremantle, for example, with its deep civic roots and moral imagination, respond to such a shift?
Those questions, our thinkers believe, invite us to reimagine not just geopolitics, but the moral scaffolding of the world. If China were the dominant global power, the stories we tell about progress, dignity, and justice would likely shift in tone, metaphor, and moral emphasis. It sketched out a few possibilities:
📖 Progress: Harmony Over Disruption
• The Story of Collective Ascent: Progress might be framed less as individual innovation and more as national rejuvenation. The hero isn’t the lone disruptor, but the disciplined collective—builders of high-speed rail, megacities, and green tech scaled at breathtaking speed.
• Technological Sovereignty: Instead of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things,” we’d hear tales of “move wisely and integrate.” Progress becomes a story of self-reliance—quantum computing, AI, and biotech developed not for market dominance, but for strategic autonomy.
• Rural Revitalization as Moral Progress: The countryside, often neglected in Western narratives, could be recast as a site of moral renewal—where tradition, ecology, and modernity coalesce.
🧭 Dignity: Stability Over Expression
• The Story of Order as Respect: Dignity might be rooted in social harmony and filial duty, not personal freedom. The dignified citizen is one who contributes quietly, respects hierarchy, and avoids shame—not one who asserts loudly.
• Elder Reverence and Generational Continuity: Aging populations could be honoured not as burdens but as wisdom keepers. In Fremantle, this might resonate with advocacy for older women – dignity as intergenerational stewardship, not marginalization.
• Face and Reputation: The concept of “saving face” could become a global moral compass – shaping diplomacy, civic behavior, and even urban design to avoid confrontation and preserve collective esteem.
⚖️ Justice: Harmony Over Adversarialism
• The Story of Managed Pluralism: Justice might be less about rights and more about balance. Courts and protests give way to mediation, consensus-building, and quiet negotiation. The goal isn’t victory – it’s equilibrium.
• Development as Justice: Poverty alleviation, infrastructure access, and social stability could be framed as the highest forms of justice – less courtroom drama, more high-speed rail to remote towns.
• Censorship as Moral Hygiene: In this narrative, controlling information isn’t oppression—it’s protection. Justice becomes the story of shielding society from chaos, misinformation, and moral decay.
🌀 Countercurrents and Quiet Resistance
Of course, beneath these dominant stories, others would stir. Artists, feminists, dissidents, and dreamers might tell quieter tales – of dignity found in defiance, of justice reclaimed through storytelling, of progress measured not in GDP but in compassion. Fremantle, with its civic soul and poetic grit, might become a sanctuary for such counter-narratives.
Moreover,said our Copilot thinkers, if the dominant narrative in a China-led global order centres on harmony, hierarchy, and stability, then counter-narratives would likely emerge from the margins – quietly, poetically, or defiantly. These stories wouldn’t just resist the dominant frame; they’d reimagine dignity, justice, and progress through different lenses. Here are a few that might take root:
🕊️ The Story of Radical Transparency
In a world of curated harmony and managed truth, some communities might reclaim transparency as a moral act. Think:
• Citizen-led data commons: Open-source platforms that track inequality, environmental degradation, or censorship—telling stories the official channels won’t.
• Testimonies from the shadows: Oral histories, zines, and underground podcasts that preserve the lived experience of those erased by state narratives—migrant workers, queer youth, rural dissenters.
This counter-narrative says: Justice begins with seeing clearly – even when it’s uncomfortable.
🌱 The Story of Local Sovereignty
As global systems become centralized and technocratic, some places might double down on localism—not as nostalgia, but as resistance.
• Community-led planning: Cities like Fremantle could become laboratories for participatory design, where older women, renters, and vulnerable groups shape the built environment.
• Civic rituals of care: Public life becomes a stage for dignity – shared meals, intergenerational councils, storytelling circles that honour lived experience over metrics.
This story whispers: Progress is what we build together, block by block.
🎨 The Story of Creative Subversion
Art, satire, and metaphor might become the language of dissent – especially where direct critique is risky.
• Poetry as planning: Urban design infused with metaphor – benches shaped like broken chains, murals that map invisible histories.
• Theatre of the absurd: Performances that parody surveillance, bureaucracy, or techno-utopianism, inviting reflection through laughter.
This narrative insists: Dignity lives in imagination – and imagination is unruly.
🔥 The Story of Feminist Reclamation
In a system that prizes order and hierarchy, feminist voices might challenge the gendered foundations of power.
• Care as infrastructure: Reframing housing, transport, and health systems around caregiving, not productivity.
• Embodied justice: Movements that centre bodily autonomy, emotional labour, and interdependence – especially for older women and single renters.
This counter-narrative declares: Justice is not abstract—it’s felt, lived, and fiercely relational.
🌀 The Story of Moral Pluralism
Finally, some thinkers and communities might resist the idea of a singular moral order -whether Western liberalism or Confucian harmony – and instead embrace pluralism.
• Dialogues across difference: Spaces where conflicting values—freedom vs stability, rights vs duties—are held in tension, not resolved.
• Ethical storytelling: Civic leaders as moral weavers, helping communities navigate ambiguity with grace.
This story says: Dignity is not agreement- it’s the courage to stay in conversation.
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Well, Shipees, lots to think about and discuss over coffee and muffins in between debating the final Dockers team lineup on Saturday night!
By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News
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