The institutions that constitute the backbone of the current, West-led international system are waning in power as multipolarity takes hold in the world. An up-to-date picture of this situation was given by the agenda of and discussions at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly last month that incidentally was attended by the leaders of any of the ...
During the year 138 (2nd century BC), Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian on a diplomatic mission to observe the western parts of the empire and Central Asia. He was the first representative to provide reliable information about those territories to the Chinese imperial court, located in Chang’an. In the year 119 BC, Zhang made a new ...