China courts developing nations in its push to build a new world order

When China’s Premier Li Qiang visited Malaysia in June, he did not need to defend China’s growing projections of economic and military might in Southeast Asia. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim did it for him: China was a “true friend” whose dominance should not be feared, said Anwar. The following month, Malaysia applied to join the BRICS grouping of countries, which Beijing has sought to expand into a coalition of developing nations. China’s efforts to provide an alternative to Western hegemony, said Anwar, “brought us a glimmer of hope that...