Controlling the oceans: China's ambition

 

The Battle for the BBNJ Secretariat

Negotiations for the BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction) are intensifying ahead of the 2027 Conference of the Parties (COP1). A central conflict has emerged over which city will host the new Secretariat. The three contenders are Valparaíso (Chile), Brussels (Belgium), and Xiamen (China).

China’s Xiamen Bid:

• The Offer: China has proposed a lavish "one-stop" package, including a 15-story office complex free of charge and significant financial aid to ensure Global South participation.

• Strategic Motivation: China seeks to rectify a "geographical imbalance," noting that no major UN ocean governance body is currently headquartered in the Asia-Pacific.

• The "Responsible Power" Narrative: By bidding just as the U.S. (under the Trump administration) withdraws from various international organizations, China is positioning itself as the new anchor of multilateralism and a leader of the Global South.

• Institutional Expertise: Hosting would provide Beijing a "front-row seat" in shaping the rules for high-seas resources, a sector where it was historically a latecomer.

Decision Factors:

The choice depends on whether the Secretariat becomes a fully independent UN body or an "institutionally linked" agency (favouring Brussels), and how member states weigh China's generous funding against geopolitical concerns regarding its maritime disputes and growing influence.

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Commentary: Beijing’s Maritime Manifest Destiny

China’s bid for the BBNJ Secretariat is far more than a bureaucratic application; it is a calculated move to secure normative power over the world’s final frontier: the high seas.

1. Filling the Vacuum of Leadership

Beijing’s timing is surgical. By stepping up exactly as the United States retreats into isolationism, China is performing a "prestige pivot." It is transitioning from a country that merely follows international maritime law to one that houses the house where those laws are managed. This "hosting diplomacy" allows China to frame itself as the adult in the room, contrasting its stability with American volatility.

2. Institutionalizing "Blue Territory" Ambitions

For decades, China has felt hamstrung by a UN ocean architecture (IMO, ITLOS, ISA) designed and dominated by Western powers. By pushing for Xiamen, Beijing is attempting to relocate the "gravitational centre" of ocean governance to its own shores. This isn't just about administrative jobs; it’s about institutional capture. Hosting the Secretariat provides unparalleled access to data, personnel, and the subtle "soft power" required to influence how the "common heritage of mankind" is defined—and exploited.

3. The Global South as a Geopolitical Shield

China’s emphasis on "representativeness" and "capacity building" for developing nations is a brilliant use of the Global South as a geopolitical shield. By tying the Secretariat's success to Chinese funding for poorer nations, Beijing makes it politically difficult for Western nations to oppose the bid without appearing "anti-development."

4. The Irony of the Host

The most significant tension remains China’s own maritime record. Beijing is asking the world to trust it as the custodian of high-seas biodiversity while it simultaneously maintains the world's largest distant-water fishing fleet and continues to assert expansive, contested claims in the South China Sea.

Conclusion

China's ambition is to be simultaneously a maritime power and a maritime regulator. If Xiamen wins, it will signal a fundamental shift in the global order: one where the rules of the ocean are no longer written in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific, under the watchful eye of a resurgent Beijing.