This panel examines recent changes in China’s regional and global strategy with a special focus on developments since 2022. In February 2022, Russia and China proclaimed their novel “friendship without limits,” just a few days prior to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This has fuelled speculations about the formation of a non-democratic alliance against the liberal rules-based order. Analysts even voiced concerns about the future status of Taiwan. The contributions to this panel shed light on China’s regional positioning with a special focus on Southeast Asia, analyze China’s relationship with Russia before the backdrop of the war, and also shed light on China’s engagement on the African continent. Is China actively promoting alternative ordering principles and actively opposing the institutional backbones of the postWW II international system?