Catalytic inverter

China is a major trendsetter and active participant in experience-sharing and development cooperation among the Global South countries

For a long time, the definition of development and the related policymaking of the Global South was influenced, if not dominated, by the Global North. Meanwhile, the cooperation among Global South countries was relatively loose, and, due to a lack of funding and capacity, they had limited control over their own development agendas. Therefore, Global South countries failed to effectively implement their independent development plans owing to limited financial resources and external impacts.

In recent years, however, the rise of emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkiye has provided new references for other Global South countries exploring their own development paths and cooperation models. Meanwhile, enhanced experience-sharing among Global South countries has given developing countries confidence to pursue independent development.

In such a context, emerging countries including China hold high the banner of development and cooperation, and vigorously promote experience sharing and development cooperation among Global South countries. The prime examples are the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the global development, security, and civilization initiatives proposed by China.

Compared with traditional South-South cooperation models in the post-World War II era, the new cooperation among Global South countries has some distinctive features. First, the new cooperation has gone beyond the sporadic economic and technological cooperation in the early days, and it now pays more attention to the building of platforms and the reshaping of the global governance system.

For example, starting with the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China has established a host of "1+N "dialogue and cooperation mechanisms with Africa, Latin America, Arab states, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Island countries.

The expansion of BRICS and the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 this year have given Global South countries more say in reshaping the global development governance system.

Second, Global South countries have increased the funds for development cooperation on a wider scale. China's spending on foreign aid and international development cooperation during the past decade is 10 times that of the average level in the previous six decades since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Also, the foreign aid of China serves more as a catalyst for driving more economic and trade cooperation.

Third, emerging countries have accumulated more experiences in the process of their own development, providing new choices for developing nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia to choose their development paths and philosophies.

As the world's largest developing country, China is a major trendsetter and active participant in South-South cooperation. Over the past more than 10 years, China has been pushing for a transition of its foreign aid system to one focused on international development cooperation and global development governance, and has enhanced South-South cooperation with its own characteristics.

First, over the past decade, China has scaled up its foreign aid efforts, improved the composition of its aid projects, and expanded the channels and partners of international development cooperation. It should be noted that China uses different metrics to gauge foreign aid than that used for the Official Development Assistance of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. So a simple comparison between the two is inappropriate. But generally speaking, China's foreign aid as a share of Gross National Income is relatively lower. And for a long time, China's foreign aid funds were mainly channeled to large infrastructure projects, mainly in the form of concessional loans.

Since 2012, China has gradually shifted from large foreign aid projects to "small yet smart" livelihood programs, while increasing the share of donations in foreign aid in order to promote solidarity and experience sharing among Global South countries. In the past, China's foreign aid was predominantly bilateral, but in recent years, China has laid more emphasis on the role of multilateral international organizations, and enhanced its connection with these organizations and middle-income countries.

Second, to respect the desire of other Global South countries for independent development and to explore building a global governance system based on the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, China has attached more importance to shared development and innovated its foreign aid narrative by proposing the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and providing global public goods.

This embodies a combination of traditional Chinese culture and the frontier narrative in international development, and expresses China's inclusive and open attitude toward North-South dialogues and South-South development cooperation. Also, this is China's solution to the mounting challenges and risks facing the world as a result of decades of economic globalization and the deep integration of the global economy, and underlines the proactive and positive contribution being made by the Global South in the new system.

China is also paying more attention to sharing its own development experiences with other countries. Since the 21st century, China has established platforms such as the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, the Center for International Knowledge on Development, and the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development. By setting up majors and disciplines in area studies, international affairs, global governance and international development, China has stepped up efforts on knowledge accumulation of development practices and talent cultivation for Global South countries.

To summarize, China, based on its own development experiences, has mobilized more financial resources for development, and created more platforms for development cooperation, thus enriching the connotations, philosophies, and practices of new-type cooperation among Global South countries.

China's shift is reflected not only in its innovating the ways of international development cooperation and South-South cooperation, but also in its expanding the channels for Global South countries to take part in global development governance, which has helped the world to explore new development paths and accumulate knowledge of development and build a global development governance system featuring extensive consultation, joint construction and shared benefits.

But it should be noted that the global development governance system is still mainly constructed by the Global North, a pattern that has existed since the 19th century. The cooperation among Global South countries still faces multiple challenges in strengthening growth capacities, building mechanisms for development cooperation, and accumulating development knowledge and practices.

The author is dean of the College of International Development and Global Agriculture and a professor of humanities and development studies at China Agricultural University. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.