China’s Belt and Road Initiative: An Opportunity to Re-energize South-South Cooperation

Abstract

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, the landscape of South-South cooperation has greatly changed mainly due to the ongoing power shift from the North to the South. Rising economies like China and India are taking the lead in driving forward the institutional development of South-South cooperation despite lingering challenges that call for collective actions and mutual support among developing countries. Based on the principle of achieving shared benefits through consultation and collaboration, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has presented a good opportunity for reinvigorating South-South cooperation and drawing concerted efforts from the international community to reduce the global deficits in peace, development and governance. In the long run, the BRI is expected to facilitate a new round of economic globalization and help shape a more balanced and efficient system of global economic governance, which will serve as the basis for jointly building a “community of shared future for mankind” proposed by the Chinese government.