Powering up the Global South

 

Collective strength: Tourists taking photos in front of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The strengthening of the foundation of Global South cooperation should focus on building consensus and promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges. — Xinhua

Projections indicated that by 2030, three of the four largest economies in the world will be in the Global South, led by China, India and Indonesia, which can significantly alter the balance of power and influence in the near future.

ON Nov 13 to 15, 2024, I had the privilege of joining more than 100 international think tanks at the Second Global South Think Tanks Dialogue themed “Global South: Equality, Openness and Cooperation” held in Nanjing, China.

It was co-organised by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and China Council for BRICS Think-tank Corp.

The dialogue was attended by more than 100 distinguished scholars, researchers, panellists and participants coming from five continents, whereby individual country’s representatives presented their views in four parallel plenary sessions.

The themes of the sessions were “Addressing Challenges Together to Safeguard Peace and Security”, “Pursuing Open Development to Build Synergy for Development, “Upholding Fairness and Justice to Improve Global Governance” and “Deepening Mutual Learning Among Civilisations for Common Progress”.

The dialogue in Nanjing concluded with the establishment of The Global South Think Tanks Alliance, co-founded by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Media Group, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China, and more than 200 domestic and international think tanks and universities.

The alliance is committed towards promoting mutual understanding and learning, as well as sharing of knowledge and resources amongst the Global South countries toward building a better world.

It involves collaborating to conduct joint-research on common subjects, issues and challenges in the pursuit of modernisation process, while preserving the civilisation and interests of different ethnic groups.

In building the foundation of the Global South cooperation, the Think Tanks Alliance will enhance policy communication flows among the Global South, forging consensus building and engaging consultations, as well as promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

The Global South includes Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (excluding Israel), and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand).

Regardless of multiple definitions, the Global South is a formidable entity.

Projections indicated that by 2030, three of the four largest economies in the world will be in the Global South, led by China, India and Indonesia, which can significantly alter the balance of power and influence in the near future.

With the global power balance shifting from bipolarity to multipolarity order, the rise of the Global South plays a pivotal role in the global economy, international relations and the formation of a multipolar order.

Since 1990s, the economies of the Global South have consistently outpaced the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the Global North.

Notably, Global South economies make up 85% of the world’s population and their contributions to global GDP has expanded rapidly from 19% in 1990 to 42% in 2022.

The Global South lower and middle-income countries are experiencing a “youth bulge” and can reap a demographic dividend if their economies grow and income levels improve.

The young adults have a median age of almost 25, which is younger than the global average of 30.

Many countries in the Global South are endowed with abundant natural resources such as fossil fuels, minerals and agricultural products, while some countries have high production in lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite that are required for the global green energy transition.

Setting mostly natural resource-rich South countries on a path of sustainable and inclusive growth will depend on their continued investments in education, healthcare, human and physical capital, and building up institutions, as well as seeking technical and resources support from the international institutions.

Greater efforts are needed to expand access to better education and learning outcomes in enhancing the people skills and improve employability.

Global South countries must implement pragmatic policies and impactful socio-economic programmes to support the pace of economic growth that will create better income employment, improve living standards, reduce the level of poverty, and help to narrow the growth divergence between the developed and less developed countries.

Governments need to enhance the investment climate, making business environment more friendly and conducive, as well as de-risk their economies to attract and boost both domestic and foreign investment.

What roles can the developed South countries play?

Developed countries should help developing and underdeveloped countries to expand their economies through policy advice, capacity-building activities, and concessional financial and resources support.

Assistance should be targeted at enhancing national trade policies and regulations, developing infrastructure, and building technology capacity, digitalisation, new knowledge and manpower development.

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative represents a key pillar of the global community’s shared future, promoting higher- quality development through the financing of public infrastructure and transportation projects to improve connectivity, facilitate trade and people-people movement, and opening up and sharing China’s development opportunities with the rest of the world.

China International Import Expo, which has been running for eight consecutive years, provides strong evidence of China’s commitment to opening up to the world.

China also offers certain socio-economic initiatives as part of its Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s outreach.

The availability of financing at reasonable terms for the development of Global South countries is essential.

These include innovative financing solutions and new funding sources, as well as currency swaps.

China has emerged as the new major financier of the Global South economies.

The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

The NBD will support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.

Additionally, Global South countries are encouraged to use their local currencies for the settlement of trade among member states.

While the deepening of economic and financial integration via cross-border trade and financial flows can help the Global South countries to integrate into the world economy, the world free-trade international architecture is experiencing unsustainable inertia, blamed on an aggressive and protectionist trade agenda by some advanced economies.

The biggest disappointment is the dysfunction of the World Trade Organisation, which is supposed to promote free trade deal, but is unable to manage the disruptive trade and technology war between China and the United States.

Additionally, it failed to push forward its agenda to address current global challenges such as climate change, unfair trade practices, inequality, and underdevelopment.

As a result, Global South countries often face unfavourable trade conditionas and unbalanced investment frameworks due to the protectionist policies of advanced economies.

Hence, key areas for cooperation should include reinforcing the multilateral trading system, restructuring development finance and global financial architecture, and ensuring the availability of climate mitigation financin.

Amid economic influences and geopolitical shifts, the Global South is on the march with enhanced political visibility.

Cooperation among peer countries has helped the Global South to have a “louder voice” and member states are increasingly asserting themselves on the global stage.

For example, China brokered a surprise detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia in March 2023.

Both China and Brazil have also made efforts to unite developing countries behind a plan to end the war in Ukraine.

With the vast size of this bloc, the united Global South can be a formidable force capable of challenging the profound changes in the current international political and economic systems to better serve the development needs of its member states.

The Global South countries’ economic growth and investment prospects look promising in the years ahead.

The ability of the bloc members to advocate shared common issues that benefit their interests, regardless of geographical boundaries, and choose its own path will solidify its significance, while navigating the geopolitically-driven fragmentation of trade and investment flows.

Going forward, as more Global South countries join BRICS as full members, partner countries, or in the “BRICS Plus” format, the collective strength of the Global South can be harnessed to build together a better community with a shared future for mankind.

Hence, building trustworthy relationships, friendships, and communities, as well as international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, hold the key to maintaining sound relations among member states.

The consolidation of the foundation of Global South cooperation must give full play to the role of building consensus and carrying out various forms of cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

By offering rational analysis to address misinterpretations and misjudgments, and deepening mutual trust and learning in a professional way, the Global South Think Tanks Alliance will help people around the world form a more comprehensive and objective understanding of the Global South cooperation.

In conclusion, the diversity of the Global South countries will become a formidable force in the shaping of the international order, which has been dominated by the Global North.

An empowered Global South is inevitable, and its rise will foster unity among diverse member countries, demanding a more equitable world order.

Lee Heng Guie is the executive director of the Socio-Economic Research Centre. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.

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Beautiful diversity: Today, there are 25 million Muslims living in China. Here, Muslim devotees are praying at the Nanxiapo Mosque in Beijing to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri. — The Star

 

 THE legend of Admiral Zheng He (more commonly known as Cheng Ho to most Malaysians) has always fascinated me, being a history student with Peranakan roots in Penang.

In fact, I took the opportunity to travel to Nanjing, China, to pay respects to the great man at his tombstone.

The only snag was, Zheng He’s resting place remains a mystery, he who led historic voyages to South-East Asia and eastern Africa.

His remains have never been found, leading many to believe he received his final rites at sea during his last voyage, sometime in 1433.

But Zheng He is not a Uighur (pronounced as wee ger). He was from the Hui ethnic group, which comprises Muslims.

The history of Islam in China goes back more than a staggering 1,300 years.

While Zheng He is probably one of the most famous Muslims, there were others during the Ming rule, Muslim military generals including Mu Ying, Hu Dahai, Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and Ding Dexing.

There was also the famous Confucian Muslim scholar, Ma Zhu, who served during the Ming dynasty. The name Ma is the Chinese counterpart to Muhammad.

Today, there are 25 million Muslims living in China. The Hui is the largest group (48%), followed by the Uighur (41%), and together, they make up about 90% of the total Muslim population. The other Muslims include Kazakh (6,1%) and Dongxiang (2.5%), followed by the Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Salar, Tajik, Bonan and Tatar groups. They live mostly in Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan, and even in Beijing and Xian.

My trips to China have taken me to Xinjiang by air, road and train, where I spent weeks meeting these beautiful ethnic minorities.

I travelled on the Silk Road and tried imagining how ancient traders treaded the same path. Famed Italian merchant, Marco Polo, probably used the same route in the 13th Century to look for spices, silk and carpets.

My journey took me across the Taklamakan desert on long overnight trains to Turpan (or the Flaming Mountains), the setting of the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West, of the Monkey God fame.

The trip concluded in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of China.

Urumqi was a major hub on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty’s golden age, and today, it has one of the world’s largest bazaars.

Walking through the markets reminded me of the souq in the Middle East, being surrounded by the blue-eyed Uighur and their distinct Turkish looks, while blonde Russians, all speaking Mandarin, were among the other Chinese. It was an exotic place, indeed.

As a “banana” (a term describing a Western-educated Chinese with Western world views, and can’t speak Mandarin), I was lucky to have scholars from Universiti Malaya explain the historical and academic aspects of China.

I have also travelled to Xian, where China’s ancient capital, Chang’an, is located. It was home to more than 10 dynasties.

It was a delight for me to step into the mosques and immerse in local Muslim culture. Islam has long been part of Xian history, where the terracotta soldiers stand guard.

But today, Xinjiang is in the international news for all the wrong reasons. Damaging words, including genocide, have been hurled at it. The grim and gruesome word means killing many people from an ethnic group with the aim of wiping it out.

There is little evidence, if none at all, to prove genocide, but it’s such a strong emotive word that it recalls the Holocaust and Khmer Rouge killing fields in Cambodia.

The Xinjiang cotton fields are alleged to have practised forced labour, even though it’s common knowledge that machines are required for large scale productions. There have also been accusations of rape.

Nothing is spared in the mind games between the two superpowers (US and China) to discredit each other.

Reports on the issue have come thick and fast from CNN and BBC, almost on a daily basis, in fact.

It’s hard to ignore that since the protests in Hong Kong began, they have become more involved in instigative journalism than investigative journalism.

Since the racist campaign by Donald Trump, where China was blamed for the spread of the coronavirus, Americans and many ill-informed Westerners have looked at ethnic Asians – especially those with Chinese features – negatively.

They have lumped all Orientals together as Chinese, just like how some think turbaned Sikhs with beards must be Taliban.

Now, under the Biden Administration, there is little difference, except perhaps Joe is less antagonistic, though the anti-China sentiments remain.

From the coronavirus to Huawei, and Tik Tok through to purported spy scholars and the South China Sea, and now Xinjiang cotton, it has become a concerted campaign.

We all know the US has little love for Muslims anywhere in the world.

The US has dropped enough bombs in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, as well as imposed sanctions against Iran, to substantiate that claim. The US has also turned a blind eye to the plight of the Palestinians.

These assaults were launched on the pretext of destroying weapons of mass destruction owned by the Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi regimes, though we now know fact from fiction.

While the two weren’t angels (but more dictators), the fanatical Islamic State took over after the two were deposed and worsened the situation.

Now, the attention is China. It’s the perfect villain – communist rule, no elections and a campaign against Muslims in Xinjiang.

Most Americans can neither pronounce Xinjiang nor point it out on a map, although that seems a moot point to them.

The truth is, the US is jittery because its dominance is over. The world order has changed.

While the US was busy executing its campaign in the name of upholding human rights and western values, and burning trillions of dollars on arsenal, the Chinese spent the last decades building their nation and eradicating poverty.

No one should be surprised when China overtakes the US in the world economy. It didn’t happen overnight, though.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou may not be representative of the whole of China, especially compared to third-tier cities and rural areas, but credit where it’s due for the absence of homeless colonies in the cities.

As a Malaysian who has regularly visited China, I feel poor whenever I’m there. The glitzy skyscrapers, efficient transport system, low crime rate, affluence and orderly city administration has shown that China has certainly arrived.

The Chinese have become visibly wealthier and sophisticated, and while their tendency to flaunt their wealth rubs many the wrong way, they have simply become what the early rich Americans used to be. The rich Chinese are loud and brash, but along the way, they – just like the Americans did then – will change.

Rather than demonise China and its people, the US could do well with promoting its values, many of which are universal in nature, such as the rule of law, protecting individual rights, improving living standards and driving the engine of innovation.

The US remains the preferred destination for most people seeking migration.

The immigrants, including Muslims who refused to integrate, could have chosen Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait or Senegal, but they picked the US.

We embrace American culture and its lifestyle, especially Hollywood movies, Disneyland, burgers, Coca- Cola and music. That speaks volumes of how most of us admire the US.

While the Chinese are now at a stage where they are content with growth and material wealth, they will eventually question issues like environment, inequality and self-suffrage, when they find themselves without a safety net.

The expansion of the middle class has always been similar all over the world. When the stomach and pockets are full, people have time to talk about democratic ideals.

But for now, the chaos and destruction in Hong Kong and racism in the US have given reason for China, and Chinese all over the world, to push back, or even detest the aggressive campaign by the US. This is nothing more than blatant bullying.

It isn’t fair play, unlike what the US claims, because there’s clearly a lack of respect for competition.

We all believe “democracy is the worst system of government, except for everything else, ” as Winston Churchill said. It’s loud and messy, as we know, but power is more diffused in democracy, where it’s equally shared through the population, as James Stavridis, a retired US Navy admiral put it.

The Xinjiang campaign will come back to haunt the US. Unlike other Muslims in China, the Uighur have indulged in ISIS activities, including being actively involved in Syria, where many combatants are members of an Al Qaeda offshoot.

Reuters and Associated Press have reported of at least 5,000 Uighur in ISIS operating in Syria and Iraq.

Many of them from the outlawed Turkistan Islamic Party, are pushing for an Islamic state in Xinjiang, which China surely won’t tolerate.

That perhaps explains why China takes a different approach to the Uighur compared to other Muslims, though these actions remain open to debate.

But here’s the irony – while the US and its western allies are busy drumming up the issue, the powerful Muslim countries led by Saudi Arabia, along with 36 other countries, have defended China’s policies in Xinjiang in a letter released in 2019.

The world is not keen on getting entangled in an escalating trade war between the US and China.

We want both countries to work together, if they really believe and practise what they preach to the rest of us, the minion nations. And if they do, the world stands to benefit immeasurably.

 Wong Chun Wai

Wong Chun Wai began his career as a journalist in Penang, and has served The Star for over 35 years in various capacities and roles. He is now group editorial and corporate affairs adviser to the group, after having served as group managing director/chief executive officer. On The Beat made its debut on Feb 23 1997 and Chun Wai has penned the column weekly without a break, except for the occasional press holiday when the paper was not published. In May 2011, a compilation of selected articles of On The Beat was published as a book and launched in conjunction with his 50th birthday. Chun Wai also comments on current issues in The Star.

• https://twitter.com/chunwai09
• http://www.wongchunwai.com/

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