China’s recent strategic advances look less like isolated initiatives and more like components of a long-term effort to shape the foundations of global power.

That is the central argument of a Foreign Affairs January/February 2026 article by Elizabeth Economy, published December 9, 2025. She lays out how Beijing has been steadily positioning itself to shape the rules, tools, and institutions that will define emerging strategic domains.

Rather than reacting to momentary crises, China has long pursued influence over areas such as the deep ocean, the polar regions, outer space, cyberspace, and the international financial system.

Economy begins with a symbolic example: a Chinese cargo ship arriving in the United Kingdom by traversing the Arctic. The route itself is not the story; it is

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