Economic Daily: Beware of Misinterpretation and Utilization of the Concept of "Global South"
Since the beginning of this year, the United States and the West have significantly increased their attention to the "global south", frequently setting discourse traps, attempting to misinterpret concepts, competing for discourse power over the "global south", creating opposition between China and developing countries, promoting competition among major powers and geopolitical confrontation. Relevant countries should be highly vigilant about this.
At the beginning of this year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave a speech in Washington, stating that "if the West is abandoned by the 'global South', it will become a minority and not conducive to solving policy issues.". The Munich Security Conference held in February emphasized that the West should strive for the "global south". The G7 Hiroshima Summit held in May included strengthening relations with "global southern" countries as the main agenda of the summit.
The concept of "Global South" is in line with the traditional concept of "South". But in the discourse system dominated by the United States and the West, many political meanings have been imposed. The United States and the West are investing more attention into the "Global South" not in the hope of forming a joint force, nor do they have the intention of truly helping it solve its development problems, but rather in political calculations based on their own interests.
In recent years, the importance of the "global south" in the global landscape has become increasingly prominent. The United States and the West realized that if they could not win more support from southern countries, it would be difficult to maintain hegemony in the future global landscape. Therefore, they began to vigorously woo southern countries and even attempted to play the role of "global southern" leaders by supporting certain countries, in order to achieve control over "global southern" affairs.
In this process, the United States and the West also plotted to turn the "global south" into a strategic lever to contain China. For example, Japan concocted the "China exception theory", claiming that China is no longer a developing country and does not belong to the "global South", and frequently advocated anti China fallacies such as the "China debt trap theory" to provoke China's relations with other developing countries.
No matter how the United States and the West distort it, they cannot change the fact that the "Global South" is not a political group, and "harmony but difference" and "independence and autonomy" are its distinct colors. China is a natural member of the "Global South".
As a developing country and a member of the global South, China has always breathed and shared a common destiny with other developing countries. The pursuit of development and revitalization is a common demand of the global South. China insists on placing development at the center of the international agenda, continuously consolidating international consensus to promote development, and safeguarding the legitimate development rights of the global South. Promoting the development of the international order towards a more just and reasonable direction is a common proposition of the global South. China has always advocated that international affairs should be jointly participated in by all countries, and international rules should be jointly formulated by all countries to promote equal rights, rules, and opportunities for all countries, in line with the value pursuit of the "global southern" countries.
From a historical perspective, the colonial actions and hegemonism of the United States and the West have been the main culprits for the insufficient development opportunities and weakened international discourse power of the "global south". Nowadays, the United States and the West are attempting to divide and exploit the "global south", and their actions are clearly ulterior motives. The countries of the "Global South" should recognize the traps set by the United States and the West, strengthen unity and cooperation, jointly oppose hegemony, and achieve independent and independent development.
