China making the most of a rapidly changing world

The Bretton Woods institutions — the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (which was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995)-have dominated global trade and development policies in the postwar era, because developed countries were at the height of their power when those policies were devised.

After the end of World War II, more and more developing countries gained independence from colonial powers, and started rebuilding and improving socioeconomic structure. Consequently, countries of the Global South collectively became increasingly important.

Today, the global economic balance has shifted to the Global South. For example, the G7 countries' combined share of global GDP declined from 67 percent in 1994 to 44.2 percent in 2022. On the other hand, the fast-paced economic growth of China raised its share of global GDP by four times during this period.