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Opinion | China and India should be Global South anchors, not power competitors
- Beijing does not desire Global South leadership; New Delhi has the ambition but not the heft and faces challenges, particularly in its support for Israel
- For the sake of the Global South, both should serve as the anchors of a dawning Asian century in a volatile world
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Much has been said about how China and India are jostling for leadership of the Global South. This is bunkum. China harbours no intention of becoming the Global South leader, and India is unlikely to become one even if it wants to.
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China describes itself only as “a natural member of the Global South”, in line with what it calls itself: a developing country. But while India has not yet declared itself the leader of the Global South, its ambition is hardly veiled.
Last year, with New Delhi hosting the G20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened two Voice of Global South Summits for 125 developing countries without inviting China, Brazil or South Africa. This is almost understandable: India could hardly puff up with self-importance as the voice of the Global South in the presence of these leading G20 developing nations.
China and India have the same problem in trying to convince others to see them as they see themselves. As China gets stronger, despite the late Deng Xiaoping’s mantra of tao guang yang hui, meaning to hide your strength, bide your time, it can hardly hide its strength any more.
For example, China has said it will remain a developing country forever. There is indeed no strictly agreed definition for a developing or developed country. But if China overtakes the United States in 10 years to become the world’s largest economy, could it then still be a developing country? Some are already calling China a superpower.
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For India, the challenge is to encourage a belief that it is bigger than it actually is. With liberal democracy in steady decline, India’s self-description as the world’s largest democracy adds little dazzle. Besides, there are doubts that India is a full democracy and many consider Modi’s government repressive.
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