China on Friday signed a convention forming a global mediation-based dispute resolution organization in Hong Kong, seeking to grow it in status similar to bodies such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
More than 30 countries backed the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation in Hong Kong, including Laos, Cambodia, Serbia, Papua New Guinea and Venezuela.
Pakistan, Indonesia, Belarus and Cuba also signed the convention to become founding members of the global organization, following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“The birth of IOMed will help transcend the zero-sum mentality of ‘win or lose,’ promote the amicable resolution of international disputes, and build more harmonious international relations,” Wang said.
Through the establishment of the organization in Hong Kong, China also aims to solidify the city’s credentials as an international legal and dispute resolution services center in Asia.
China’s growing influence in global politics
The move to form the international organization comes amid the US’s diminishing presence in global affairs as China seeks to fill the gap left by the US under President Donald Trump.
The support for the body by a remarkably high number of developing countries signals Beijing’s growing influence in the Global South.
Beijing has been steadily increasing its involvement in international affairs over the past few years and expanding its influence in global bodies such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Since beginning his term in January, Trump has ordered the US to leave UN bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council and has also decreed a US pullout from the WHO.
