This could potentially be very consequential: China and a group of about 20 other countries (including Indonesia, Pakistan, Algeria and Serbia) are launching this week the "International Organisation for Mediation" (IOM), a treaty-based multilateral organisation that will be a platform for the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

It's basically a competitor to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague with a few notable differences, besides the obvious fact it is started by the Global South and not the West.

The fundamental difference seems to be philosophical: where the ICJ determines legal rights and wrongs through binding verdicts, the IOM will seek mutually acceptable "win-win" solutions that allow all parties to save face and maintain cooperation. It's designed as an alternative that prioritises relationship preservation over legal victory.

This is basically what China achieved in its mediation role between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In that instance there was no point to determine a "loser" and a "winner": the objective was to resolve differences via mediation in order to restore the relationship, which is often the case in disputes between countries.

Obviously, this represents yet another significant step taken to de-monopolize the West's hold over the international order. With such an institution, developing nations will be able resolve their disputes without having to navigate institutions designed by (and often for) the West.

It's also in many ways an illustration of the dysfunction of the current world order: when existing structures fail to serve the majority of humanity, new ones naturally emerge to fill that void.

Which will likely be remembered as a critical strategic error by the West: by failing to reform existing institutions to serve the world as it is instead of the world they preferred, they sowed the seeds of their growing irrelevance.

Arnaud Bertrand is an entrepreneur and China analyst. Can be found on X @RnaudBertrand. Bertrand founded HouseTrip, a leading European vacation rental marketplace, He is also a graduate, honorary professor and founder & CEO of Me & Qi, one of the premier English-language platforms for traditional Chinese medicine. He is also a graduate and honorary professor of Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland.