Experts hail China's bid to deepen Global South solidarity, cooperation

President Xi Jinping's speech at the BRICS Business Forum 2023 revealed China's stance on peace and prosperity and its commitment to maintaining openness while leading the globalization push for the emerging economies of the Global South, analysts said.

In the speech read out by Commerce Minister Wang Wentao at the BRICS Business Forum 2023 on Tuesday, Xi expressed China's willingness to deepen solidarity and cooperation with other emerging markets and developing countries to push for a more just and equitable world order.

Atul Dalakoti, executive director of the New Delhi-based Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the message from Xi's speech was loud and clear: China wants lasting peace and security as people desire a better life.

Dalakoti noted that while talking about the Global South, Xi mentioned the economic rise of emerging economies including the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and informed the world that the Chinese economy was resilient and its fundamentals were strong. Xi further said that China was open to foreign companies, and that a market-oriented, law-based world-class business environment would be made available and new free trade areas would be established.

"This is a further commitment from China to go ahead on the path of opening-up and lead the globalization push for the emerging economies of the Global South," Dalakoti said.

Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan, executive director of the Center for South Asia and International Studies in Islamabad, said that Xi's speech vividly reflected core issues confronting the world community including emergence of a new Cold War, decoupling, de-risking, economic protectionism, denial of World Trade Organization rules, unjustified sanctions and, last but not least, the shift toward geopolitics over geoeconomics instigated by Western powers.

President Xi's emphasis on strengthening solidarity and cooperation to cope with the risks and challenges the world is facing clearly demonstrates that China firmly believes in globalization and internationalism, thereby helping to create an equal, just, open and transparent world, which is good for all, Khan said.

Adhere Cavince, a scholar of international relations with a focus on China-Africa development cooperation, said the BRICS Summit is a formidable platform for international development cooperation today, bringing hope to millions of people in the Global South.

As Xi noted in his speech, China has in the last decade introduced several ideas and concepts on practical cooperation as a way of working with international partners to deliver sustainable development, Cavince said.

"Peace and cooperation, through functional multilateralism, are the building blocks of inclusive, prosperous and sustainable development," he said.

In keeping with President Xi's exhortation, countries must avoid the trap of a zero-sum game, prioritize development cooperation, and champion the delivery of global public goods, he said.

"BRICS is an enabling platform for developing countries to pool and pull together out of their development challenges. As the most important partner of Africa among the BRICS countries, China should continue to champion the rights of poor countries and shape the discourse toward a more just, livable and prosperous world for all of humanity," he said.

Lawrence Loh, director of National University of Singapore's Centre for Governance and Sustainability, said the stance of peace and prosperity in Xi's speech is timely and apt. The collectively inclusive, rather than mutually exclusive, approach to international diplomacy is the way forward for all countries, he said.

"The world now runs the risk of a double whammy — an East-West ideological clash and a North-South income divide. It is thus critical that advanced countries, in particular, do not polarize the world by resorting to select grouping," Loh said.

Countries should strengthen their ties to fight the common problem of economic uncertainty. Any attempts to isolate countries will be dysfunctional and will backfire eventually, Loh said.

Chen Yingqun in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at vivienxu@chinadailyhk.com