China’s Role in the Global Governance of Synthetic Biology: Between Revisionism and the Status Quo

By: Xiaohui Xu^*

School of International Relations & Public Affairs, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

^*Corresponding author

Received: 2025-07-24Revised: 2025-09-01Accepted: 2025-09-06Published: 2025-09-25

J. Int. Eco. Glo. Gov. 2025, 2(6), 34-48; https://doi.org/10.58244/jiegg.250841

Funding: This research was funded by National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology “Global Governance and International Cooperation in Synthetic Biology R&D and Application” (2020YFA0908604).

Abstract

As a rapidly evolving frontier technology, synthetic biology poses significant global governance challenges that remain underexplored in international relations. This study combines the institutional design framework of global governance with the status quo–revisionist lens from international political economy to assess China’s role in the global governance of synthetic biology. It finds that China introduced the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines as a soft-law instrument that complements the hard-law Biological Weapons Convention, enhancing scientific community engagement and fostering consensus in research and regulation. The study concludes that China adopts a bounded revisionist approach, advancing normative innovation within the framework of existing institutions rather than in opposition to them. More broadly, the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines demonstrate how states can employ soft law to supplement established yet incomplete global governance frameworks, strategically position themselves, and secure international support. This study thus offers new insights into the dynamic alignment of state strategies and institutional design in the global governance of emerging technologies.

Keywords: Global Governance, China, Bounded Revisionism, Synthetic Biology, Emerging Technologies

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