At a time when geopolitical tensions are reshaping international politics, Pakistani academic, historian and political activist Ammar Ali Jan believes the world is witnessing a profound shift in power. Speaking in a wide-ranging podcast discussion, he argued that the era of uncontested American dominance is drawing to a close and that China has emerged as the principal force shaping a new global order.
The conversation began with President Donald Trump's recent visit to China, a development that surprised many observers given years of tariffs, technological competition and strategic rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Jan interpreted the visit not as a diplomatic breakthrough, but as a recognition of changing realities. In his view, the United States remains militarily powerful but has experienced a long-term decline in productive economic capacity, while China has steadily expanded its economic and political influence across the Global South.
According to Jan, America's traditional tools of pressure, sanctions, tariffs and diplomatic coercion, have become less effective in a world where alternative centres of power now exist. He pointed to the resilience of countries such as China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba as evidence that Washington can no longer impose its will as easily as it once could.
A central theme of the discussion was China's development model. Rejecting comparisons between China and post-Soviet Russia, Jan argued that Beijing followed a fundamentally different path after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rather than embracing rapid privatisation and unrestricted market reforms, China maintained state direction over finance, industrial policy and long-term planning. He credited this approach with lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and transforming the country into a global economic powerhouse.
The debate then moved to the idea of a multipolar world. While some analysts dismiss the concept, Jan insisted that multiple centres of power are already emerging. From China and Russia to regional actors in Latin America and the Middle East, he argued that international politics is becoming more fragmented but also more balanced. Countries such as Pakistan, he suggested, now possess greater room to manoeuvre diplomatically than they did during the unipolar moment that followed the Cold War.
For Pakistan, the implications are significant. Jan believes the country should avoid rigid alignments and instead pursue pragmatic relations with competing powers. In a world increasingly defined by economic connectivity, strategic competition and shifting alliances, he argued that understanding these transformations is essential.
Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, the discussion offered a provocative perspective on the changing balance of global power, and on why many now believe that the twenty-first century may belong not to Washington, but increasingly to Beijing.