After the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Community of shared future, global initiatives for security (GSI, 2021), development (GDI, 2022), civilization (GCI, 2023) and governance (GGI, 2025) can be seen as Xi Jinping’s determination to gather an increasing number of international actors. Beijing’s aim is to reconfigure the global order thanks to the Chinese regime’s narratives and interests (Shue, 2018; Dian & Menegazzi 2025; Tudoroiu, 2025). Thereby, Xi’s diplomacy develops and hinges on semiotic systems using concepts, principles, standards, ideological representations and even civilizational narratives, which reveal the expectations and objectives of the People’s Republic of China.

Nonetheless, focusing on the discursive dimension of these narratives could lead to analysis only partially connected to their objects and contexts, or to the policies implemented. In this context, it seems necessary to combine the discursive approach with a multidisciplinary analysis of the (geo)political, economic, normative and socio-historical contexts in which they are embedded. Combining these approaches will not only clarify the pursued objectives, but also draw attention to how they feed back into each other, and how they strengthen/weaken receivers’ appropriation of semiotic systems.

The symposium “Global Initiatives and Sino-globalization: Semiotic Systems, Vectors, Receptions” (November 23rd and 24th, 2026), will take place at Bordeaux Montaigne University, in partnership with three research units: D2iA (Dynamiques, Interactions, Interculturalité Asiatiques – UMRU 24140), LAM (Les Afriques dans le Monde - UMR 5115) and IFRAE (Institut Français de Recherche sur l’Asie de l’Est – UMR 8043). This scientific event aims to produce an immersive analysis by giving an overview of representations mobilized and spread at an international scale by the Chinese Party-State. We are inviting researchers from any disciplinary field to submit contributions questioning those narratives or, at a larger scale, of Chinese narratives, taking into consideration one or more, of the following purposes:

1. Provide a contextualized analysis of the semiotic systems employed by the People’s Republic of China through its global initiatives, or of the discourses and narratives it promotes abroad, in order to produce a better understanding of the underlying visions and objectives
   
   
2. Analyze the vectors, modes of production and spaces of diffusion through which these discursive elements are disseminated
   
   
3. Highlight various configurations surrounding the reception of these semiotic systems, in order to bring evidence of the transformations and impacts they are likely to produce at local, regional and/or global scales. We also welcome comparisons with other global-scale projects developed concurrently with, or in response to China’s initiatives: Global Gateway (European Union), “Voice of the Global South” (India), etc.

If you want to present a paper, please submit your abstract on the Sciencesconf platform (click "Submit" at the top of this page). The deadline for submission is June 29th, 2026. 

Submissions must include the following elements (only in French or English): 

• Title
• a 300-word abstract (+/- 10%)
• 5 key words 
• a 100-word biography (+/- 10%)

For any additional information, please contact Alexandre Gandil (alexandre.gandil@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr) and Noémie Marques-Verhille (noemie.marques@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr).

The conference organizers will provide meals during the symposium and some travel funds are available.

Indicative bibliography

Buzan, Barry & Feng Zhang (2024), “Multiple modernities in civilizational perspective: an assessment of the global civilization(s) initiative”, The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 17 (1): 104-126.

Dian, Matteo & Silvia Menegazzi (2025) China's Blueprint for Global Leadership: GDI, GSI, GCI and Xi Jinping's Vision for the International Order, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Foot, Rosemary & Zhang Xueying (2026) Bounded Ambition. China as a Multilateral Actor in World Politics. Cambridge Elements.

Hu, Ran (2024) “Assembling China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Discourse, Institution and Materials”, International Political Sociology, 18 (1), olae002, https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae002 

Nathan, Andrew J. & Boshu Zhang (2022) “‘A Shared Future for Mankind’: Rhetoric and Reality in Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping”, Journal of Contemporary China, 31(133): 57-71.

Ng, Joel (ed.) (2025) The Dragon's Emerging Order: Sino-centric Multilateralism And Global Responses, Singapore: World Scientific.

Shue, Vivienne (2018) "Party-state, nation, empire: rethinking the grammar of Chinese Governance", Journal of Chinese Governance, 3: 268-291.

Tudoroiu, Theodor (2025) China's New Global Initiatives, Singapore: Springer.

 

Séverine ARSENE (Associate Researcher, Sciences Po, Médialab / Programme Décript)

Daniel BACH (Emeritus Senior Research Fellow, CNRS)

Rémi CASTETS (Associate Professor, Bordeaux Montaigne University, D2iA)

Sinan CHU (Research Fellow, GIGA / Sciences Po)

Jérôme DOYON (Junior Professor, Sciences Po, CERI)

Chloé FROISSART (Professor, Inalco, IFRAE)

Alexandre GANDIL (Postdoctoral Researcher, Bordeaux Montaigne University, D2iA, Programme DECRIPT)

Juliette GENEVAZ (Associate Professor, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University / IFRAE)

Marie HILIQUIN (Postdoctoral Researcher, IRSEM Europe)

Emmanuel LABARBE (Reader, Université Bordeaux Montaigne)

Noémie MARQUES-VERHILLE (PhD, Université Bordeaux Montaigne / LAM)