China and India battle for leadership of Global South
Yet ‘growing friction has contributed to building distrust and dislike of both nations’
In 1955, the Asia-Africa Conference in the Indonesian city of Bandung marked the first meeting of Global South countries – a designation that originated in the 20th century.
Participants focused on issues of colonialism and racial discrimination, among other topics.
A desire to counter Western dominance and interference, as well as maintain non-alignment, has remained a focus of cooperation among these nations.
It was at this conference that China and India first began to vie for leadership of the Global South.
Despite their rise to being two of the largest economies and most powerful countries in the world, China and India continue to classify themselves as members of the Global South.
China has framed itself as an alternative to the United States by heavily investing in developing countries and building infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative.
India has tried to garner influence by positioning itself as an intermediary – understanding Global South interests while simultaneously wielding influence with the United States.
[It’s] unclear whether the Global South sees either country as their leader.
Countries in the Global South continue to accept support from both China and India.
Yet, growing friction over issues such as China’s approach to the global debt crisis and India’s obstructionism in international organizations has contributed to building distrust and dislike of both nations.
It remains unclear whether the Global South sees either country as their leader.
Manjari Chatterjee Miller is senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.
To read more about the battle for Global South leadership, see the original piece in the Hindustan Times.
This edited version appeared as a Blog Post and was published by the Council on Foreign Relations under a Creative Commons license. Read it here.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of China Factor.