I’m not a citizen of the Global South. This realization hit me when I sat in the conference room of the University of Indonesia on June 11. The room was filled with delegates from the People’s Republic of China and almost all of Southeast Asia - certainly including Indonesia itself.

The international stage in early 2026 has been unsettled by two undercurrents centered on Europe. On one hand, the sovereignty dispute over Greenland continues to simmer.

We are living through a pivotal historical moment in which the world is undergoing a profound transformation from a unipolar order to a new one. Such shifts are rare yet consequential, and are often accompanied by violence or war.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the “Announcement on Regulating Disorderly Price Competition and Maintaining a Good Market Price Order,”