Beijing Sets the Rules of the Game Governing Global Capitalism: An Essay

China’s New Silk Road is challenging the international rules-based order that has governed the global economy since the Second World War. As unsettling as that may be for the establishment, there is value in understanding China’s ambitious geopolitical and economic initiative with a focus on its new rules of the game “with Chinese characteristics” that impact financial institutions, judicial systems, special economic zones, digital sovereignty, and transcontinental commerce incorporated into Silk Road projects. This essay begs the question as to whether China’s Silk Road will prove to simply be an expansion of the long-standing market system model or, ultimately, disrupt the global order in the years to come.