Dr Gideon Chitanga|Published37 minutes agoAfrica must face the changing global order with resolute conviction and principle

Dr Gideon Chitanga is a political and international relations analyst. In December 2025 Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted France’s President Emmanuel Macron in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The visit was one of the rare occasions the head of the world’s second-largest economy accompanied a guest beyond the capital, Beijing.

During their meetings which were held ahead of France’s hosting of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in 2026, the two leaders pledged deeper cooperation on global issues. Macron would later tell the media that he was “very touched” by Xi’s gesture.The meetings between the two leaders showed all signs of mutual trust and a desire to “act together” at a time when international tensions are rising, the global order is fraying, and global fractures are widening. The meetings between the two leaders showed all signs of mutual trust and a desire to “act together” at a time when international tensions are rising, the global order is fraying, and global fractures are widening.

In January, the same month the United States announced its withdrawal from 66 multilateral organisations, China hosted leaders from Canada, Finland, and Britain. The Global Times has reported of Chancellor Merz’s potential visit to China slated for late February with experts suggesting that Berlin will seek to strengthen bilateral ties. So why then should Africa be perturbed or threatened when it comes to exercising its legitimate sovereign choice to forge stronger mutual beneficial socio-economic and political cooperation with China.

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How should African countries approach the changing global order. During their visit to Beijing, all these world leaders pursued mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral cooperation, purposefully seeking to advance shared interests. Under the USA led liberal international order, most countries had not option but to bank their economic and security interests with the USA, however unfair.

Well, today things have or are changing. Under the Trump presidency not only is everything a transactional deal, but mighty or power is unilaterally correct and cannot be questioned. Not only have the fraying rules of the liberal international order been upended, and allies and enemies publicly ignored, berated, and humiliated, but there is a sense in which the USA, the former hegemony, is now going it alone with unprecedented arrogant bellicosity, at a time when the world order is shifting towards multipolarity.

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