The fifth volume of the “The Governance of China” series, which reveals the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping in global politics and the ideological orientation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was published in 2025 and introduced in various languages in 2026. This step taken by the Chinese state marks a significant turning point for the discipline of international relations and political science. This work is not merely a compilation of the president’s speeches, directives, and letters; it is a crystallized manifesto of a rising superpower’s strategy for integrating into the global system and transforming it according to its own norms.
This final volume in the series offers profound insights into how China, rather than managing its internal dynamics, proposes an epistemological and ontological order to the world. In this context, a structural analysis of the text is essential for understanding China’s “state reason” in the 21st century and the discursive resistance it has developed against the Western-centric hegemonic order.[i]
The publication of this work in 2026 is not a coincidental arrangement, but the product of a conscious political communication strategy. Reflecting the maturity phase of the political architecture and the conceptualization of the “New Era” that solidified after the 20th National Congress of the CPC, this volume encodes China’s institutional responses to technological embargoes, geopolitical encirclement, and global economic uncertainties. From an academic perspective, the timing of the text aims to reinforce the claim that China has completed its post-pandemic recovery and crossed an irreversible threshold in its march towards the “Chinese Dream.” The publication of the book is not only a boost of confidence for the domestic public, but also an institutional guarantee to the international community regarding the “stability and sustainability of the Chinese model.”[ii]
Examined within the context of soft power, Volume 5 centers on China’s effort to build a “discourse power” that goes beyond traditional public diplomacy tools. While Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power relies on the appeal of Western liberal democracies, China’s texts reconstruct this concept in an asymmetrical way. China presents its governance model, its success in combating poverty, its massive infrastructure projects, and its technological leap as a center of attraction. The book functions as a massive intellectual soft power apparatus aiming to draw other nations (especially developing countries) into China’s orbit through purely ideological consistency and stories of practical success, without military or economic coercion.[iii]
As theorists like Norman Fairclough have stated, discourse does not merely reflect the world, it constructs it. Xi Jinping’s discourse in Volume 5 consistently reproduces, in every paragraph, its emphasis on “uniquely Chinese” narratives in opposition to the universalist discourses imposed by the West. The terms frequently used in the work are not randomly chosen political slogans, but rather the epistemological building blocks of the CCP’s ideological lexicon, intended for export to the world. At the discursive level, this book is a battleground for normative struggle and a fight by China to introduce its own conceptual framework into the international lexicon.[iv]
One of the most striking aspects of the work is the thorough exploration of the concept of “Chinese-Style Modernization.” In Volume 5, China develops a radical discourse rejecting the century-old historical misconception that modernization is synonymous with Westernization. Chinese-style modernization is based on five fundamental pillars: the well-being of a vast population, shared prosperity, the harmony of material and spiritual civilization, the harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful development. This narrative asserts an ethical and moral superiority over the Western path of modernization, which was enriched through imperialism and colonialism. With this concept, China offers a new prescription to the Global South, conveying the message that “you can develop without losing your own identity.”[v]
In terms of economic governance discourse, the text is structured around the concepts of “high-quality development” and “new productive forces.” While previous volumes focused more on quantitative growth and poverty eradication, Volume 5 centers on the structural transformation of the Chinese economy, green energy, the artificial intelligence revolution, and technological independence. Particularly noteworthy is Xi’s emphasis on “the autonomy of innovation,” a response to the chip wars and technological divergence processes with the United States. The book positions China not merely as a manufacturing hub, but as the new regulator of global innovation and sustainable growth.
In terms of political ideology and legitimacy, Volume 5 systematizes the concept of “Whole Process People’s Democracy.” Criticizing the West’s multi-party electoral democracy, Xi argues for the superiority of the Chinese model, which envisions public participation in all decision-making, implementation, and oversight processes, against the polarizing and capital-centric Western model reduced to the act of voting. In the context of discourse analysis, China aims to liberate the concept of “democracy” from the West’s monopoly and to re-fill the word with its own institutional practices (e.g., Advisory Councils). This is the most refined form of China’s soft power strategy to become an economic power and a normative political center of gravity.
From a global governance perspective, the book’s backbone is formed by Xi’s three major global initiatives. The first of these, the Global Development Initiative (GDI), is detailed in the book as the software infrastructure of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Xi makes a discursive leap by framing development as a human right and synchronizes China’s foreign aid with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The language in the text constructs an illusion or reality of egalitarian cooperation based on “win-win” pragmatism, rejecting the hierarchy of donor and recipient. This initiative is the clearest indication of how China’s economic statecraft is packaged with soft power.
The second major pillar, the Global Security Initiative (GSI), in Volume 5, is a strong ontological critique of the Cold War mentality, zero-sum games, and the West’s alliance-based security architecture (such as NATO and AUKUS). Discursively, Xi asserts the principle of “indivisible security,” claiming that the security of one country cannot be ensured at the expense of the insecurity of another. The diplomatic yet firm language used in the book reveals China’s intention to no longer be merely an “observer” in global security matters, but a “rule-maker” offering an alternative peace architecture. Its mediating roles in the Middle East and its stance on the Ukraine crisis are reflected in the text as practical manifestations of this vision.
The third initiative, the Global Civilizations Initiative (GCI), focuses directly on cultural soft power and the rejection of the clash of civilizations thesis. Volume 5 strongly opposes the homogenizing imposition of Western values under the guise of “universal values,” instead celebrating the diversity, equality, and mutual learning of civilizations. At the discursive level, this is a rhetoric that skillfully appeals to post-colonial literature and the historical wounds of the Global South. China, by portraying its 5,000-year-old civilization not as a tool of hegemony but as an equal flower in the world’s cultural garden, creates an intellectual shield against Western cultural imperialism.
The overarching concept that permeates the entire work is the construction of a “Community of Shared Destiny for Humanity.” For discourse analysts, this phrase is the strongest antithesis to the West’s discourse of a “Rules-Based International Order.” In his texts, Xi argues that the problems facing the world, such as the climate crisis, pandemics, and wars, transcend nation-state boundaries, and seeks to instill a sense of shared destiny.
An examination of the book’s target audience and strategic orientation clearly reveals that the primary target is the Global South. China is pragmatically aware that developed Western countries will not accept its model. Therefore, Volume 5 is written in a tone that will appeal to the political elites, bureaucrats, and academics of developing states in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The anti-colonial emphasis in the texts, the principle of the inviolability of national sovereignty, and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs offer a highly attractive alternative discourse for regimes weary of Western human rights-conditional aid. Through this book, China assumes the role of the unofficial spokesperson and ideological patron of the Global South.
The book’s translation policy and multilingual publication strategy are also an integral part of discourse analysis and soft power construction. The simultaneous translation and distribution of the original Chinese work into English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, and many other languages is a result of China’s massive investment in its global communication infrastructure. The word choices made during the translation process (for example, using “rise” instead of “rebellion,” and attributing the concept of “hegemony” solely to the US) demonstrate China’s effort to manipulate foreign political terminology to its advantage. In this context, translation is not merely a linguistic transfer process, but a repackaging of ideology to fit the codes of the target culture and a strategic control of meaning.
Read from a historical perspective, Volume 5 is a document marking the definitive and final abandonment of the low-profile foreign policy doctrine of the Deng Xiaoping era—”conceal your capabilities and wait for your time.” Xi Jinping now asserts that China is shaping the spirit of the times, rather than waiting for its time. The confident, at times demanding and proactive discourse felt throughout the text symbolizes China’s transition from an actor demanding reform in global governance to becoming a founding actor in that governance itself. This is a consequence of the necessity for China’s increasing material capacity to be supported by an intellectual and normative superstructure.
The role of China’s massive state-backed media architecture (Xinhua, CGTN, Global Times) in disseminating this discourse globally is vital. The book itself is a passive object; what transforms it into an active tool of soft power is the constant relevance of these media outlets, linking passages from the book to daily geopolitical events. Through AI algorithms, social media campaigns, and academic funding, Xi’s pronouncements in Volume 5 are amplified in a global echo chamber. Thus, the text ceases to be a static book sitting on a library shelf and becomes a hypertext constantly reproduced on the fluid ground of international relations.
Another dimension of the discursive construction in the text is “historical determinism.” Xi’s language, with the self-confidence brought about by Marxist dialectics, instills the idea that China’s rise and “national rejuvenation” are an unstoppable historical necessity. Consequently, Volume 5 of Xi’s “The Governance of China” is a massive primary source that cannot be ignored for those who want to understand the political power balances of the 21st century.
[i] “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China V”, China.org, http://www.china.org.cn/governanceofchina/volume5/node_9016730.html, (Date of Access: 20.07.2026).
[ii] “Fifth volume of ‘Xi Jinping: The Governance of China’ published in more languages”, The State Council The People’s Republic of China, https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202605/25/content_WS6a13d7bbc6d00ca5f9a0b395.html, (Date of Access: 20.07.2026).
[iii] “Event promoting 5th volume of “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” held in Astana”, Global Times, https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202607/1366014.shtml, (Date of Access: 20.07.2026).
[iv] Xi, J. (2025). Xi Jinping: The governance of China (Vol. 5). Foreign Languages Press.
[v] “Event promoting 5th volume of ‘Xi Jinping: The Governance of China’ held in Sri Lanka”, CGTN, https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-07-04/Sri-Lanka-holds-event-for-Xi-Jinping-The-Governance-of-China-Vol-5-1OuVJKmLGXC/p.html, (Date of Access: 20.07.2026).
