China's Evolving Response to the US-Led International Order and its Impact on Global Governance

China's rise as an emerging power challenges the US-led international order through the counter-institutionalisation approach. Eventually, the existing global governance is fragmented by China's counter-institutional approach. Global governance and international order are closely related and interconnected concepts that play a crucial role in addressing global challenges by establishing global norms and maintaining stability in the international system. China's approach to global governance is twopronged: one is active engagement in existing global governance institutions and the second is establishing new institutions such as the New the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade agreement and most prominently the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This research utilises Michael Zurn's Global Governance Theory to trace China's response to existing global governance institutions and its implications on global governance. This theory explains that the existing global institutions' lack of legitimacy by not representing the interest of all states has created space for states to open new counter-institutions. This response involves states seeking alternative institutions that better serve their interests. World politics is now embedded in a normative and institutional structure that contains hierarchies and power inequalities and thus endogenously produces contestation, resistance, and distributional struggles. In the end, Pakistan's strategic partnership with China, particularly through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aligns with China's multipolar world order vision, challenges the US-led governance model. It highlights the increasing role of regional partnerships in reshaping international systems.