Cooperate or Compete?: What Chinese Analysts Think of India’s ‘Global South’ Leadership

Published September 22, 2024

Executive Summary

The concept of leadership of the ‘Global South’ is increasingly gaining traction in India and China. As rising powers and competitors, both countries see merit in positioning themselves as the ‘voice of the Global South’. In doing so, both aim to seek legitimacy for their ambitions to be seen as the leading representative of developing countries. It is not unusual, in this regard, that Chinese analysts and commentators have thoroughly critiqued India’s case, all the while expounding China’s significance to the Global South. 

This essay assesses the viewpoints of a few such analysts, and concludes that there exist two broad and common themes in each of their commentaries on the two countries’ claim for leadership of the Global South. First, is that any interpretation excluding China from the list of countries constituting the Global South is a “fallacy,” and second, is that even though India is an emerging economic power, its constraints, opportunism, and “pro-Westernism” hinder its vision for leading the Global South.

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