By Herman Tiu Laurel

 

The Post World War II order was organized by the victorious nations around the establishment of the United Nations is order to have a basis for International Law to maintain peace, harmony and justice among all the nations of the world.

            The Preamble of the United Nations Charter states:

“WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

AND FOR THESE ENDS

to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,…”

            Article 2, sections 3 and 4 states:

“3.       All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

4.         All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.“

US Attacks Venezuela, Abducts Maduro

            On January 3, 2026 the United States of America launched and attack, in an undeclared war, on the independent state of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and abducted its elected president, President Nicolas Maduro and wife, Madame Cilia Flores, and brought to the U.S. for trial concocted allegations.

            The U.S. attack on Venezuela has been condemned around the globe from the East to the West, described as “Might is Right” and “Law of the jungle” action of the United States of America. This is Unilateralism, where a nation acts alone and making decisions against all universal standards of international law. The world would descend into chaos is this is not stopped.

            This was followed by intense threats from President Donald Trump to invade and occupy Greenland by force, and threats at Canada to make it into the 51^st state of the United States of America. Denmark and the E.U. has since put up stiff resistance to the U.S. and threaten strategic alignment away from America while Canada has signed a strategic partnership with China and condemned the “rules-based order” to the great consternation of Trump.

Trump’s “Board of Peace”

            At the same time, the U.S. is withdrawing from 66 international organizations, including numerous UN bodies, citing that they no longer served American interests, were redundant, or mismanaged, with notable exits from climate-related groups like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and UN Women.

            Instead, in the peace keeping initiatives over the Gaza Strip Trump established a “Board of Peace” that he alone controls, demanding $ 1-billion entry for any country that wishes to join the Board, and now expands the concept to one that would  potentially replace the United Nations organization – all under his sole command.

            It is clear now that the U.S. “Peace  President” Donald Trump who aspired to receive the Nobel Peace Prize is not intent in pursuing peace in the world, but aims at US primacy systematically establishing domination of the Western Hemisphere starting with Venezuela and Greenland, and if they succeed in the West then back to the Eastern Hemisphere in what is being called “sequencing.”

            What the U.S. is doing is not creating a new world order but a “new world disorder” to disrupt the authentic New World Order based on multipolarity and the equality of all nations big or small. This led Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to say at the WEF at Davos, Switzerland: “Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu…” as Big Powers like the United States use economic coercion to get what it wants.

China’s “Global Governance Initiative”: the Imperative.

            As the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsi said, which I often quote in these times:

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters.”

            Foreseeing the perils of a dominant global power in decline and the gradual end of the Unipolar world order, China had been preparing a plan for a new, stable and just world order based on global Multipolarity with particularly focus on the development of the World’s emerging economies.

            In 2021 President Xi Jinping of China introduced the Global Development Initiative (GDI) that aimed to accelerate UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focusing on poverty, food, health, finance, climate, industry, digital, and connectivity emphasizing people-centered, innovation-driven growth for developing nations, promoting share prosperity and reinvigorating global development efforts.

            In 2022 President Xi introduced the Global Security Initiative ( GSI) aiming to build a new security framework based on “common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security,” promoting peace through compliance with the UN Charter, respecting sovereignty, prioritizing dialogue, and addressing traditional/non-traditional threats like terrorism, climate change, and cyber risks, offering a vision of governance against unilateralism.

             In 2023 President Xi introduced the Global Civilizational Initiative (GCI) designed to promote dialogue, mutual respect, and coexistence among different cultures, religions and civilization. The GCI aims to counter the idea of the “clash of civilizations” theory popularized by the West’s publication and promotion of Samuel Huntington’s book “The Clash of Civilizations.” The GCI aims to foster the vision of a “Community of Shared Future for Mankind.”

            Finally, on September 1, 2025 President Xi introduced the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)  “Plus” meeting in Tianjin, China, in the presence of the major Global South powers Russia’s Vladimir Putin and India’s Narendra Modi, and leaders from around 20 countries discussing and promoting the vision of “a multipolar world” and the tasks towards it.

            The Global Governance Initiative (GGI) is based on five core principles: sovereign equality, adherence to international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, promoting a people-centered approach, and focusing on concrete, results-oriented actions to make global governance more inclusive, representative, and effective, addressing gaps in areas like climate, finance, and AI.

The GGI aims to reform, not replace, the current UN-centered system by ensuring developing nations have a greater voice and by tackling challenges through enhanced international cooperation. The initiative has garnered support from over 140 countries and international organizations that have welcomed the initiative and expressed support, including the “Group of Friends of Global Governance” with 43 founding members including Russia, Pakistan, Cuba, and Belarus.

Experts and scholars are invited to interpret the core essence of the Global Security Initiative (GSI) by drawing on China’s recent practical cases in international security—such as mediating the Iran-Saudi Arabia conflict, mediating the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict, supporting the ICJ genocide resolution against Israel, and issuing official statement opposing the U.S. raid on Venezuela, providing humanitarian assistance to Filipino seafarers and fishermen in the South China Sea, among many other peace and security initiatives.

The Philippines and GGI.

            The Philippines is currently under the sway of the Big Power geopolitics of the U.S. with large segments of its economic oligarchy, its corrupt political class and its security-military establishment under direct and pernicious U.S. influence preventing it from exercising independent action to join such countries as Canada, or neighbors like Malaysia and Indonesia, from participating in “Middle Powers” joint action to neutralize the Big Power politics of the U.S.

            China has never played Big Power politics, and in its differences with the U.S.-controlled segments of the entrenched Filipino US-proxy elements it has never used its economic clout to pressure the Philippines. Despite threats from megaphone politicians China has continued to use diplomacy and goodwill, dialogue and communication, extending its offer to “meet halfway” for Wind-Wind solutions – practicing the principles of its Global Governance Initiative.

The symposium also calls on the Philippine government to work with China towards mutual progress along the path of new-type security—characterized by dialogue over confrontation and win-win over zero-sum—so as to safeguard the common security of humanity. China continues its Global Development Initiative (GDI) in the Philippines like the Bucana Bridge completion in Davao, the Kaliwa Dam project, the Samal-Davao linkages and Manila-Cavite-Bataan Linkage bridges despite obstructionism from some quarters.

   

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