China’s foreign economic ties with the Global South: neocolonialism or “fairness to all”?

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to examine China's foreign economic relations with the countries of the Global South and to identify the prerequisites, logic, and ideological foundations for this interaction. The analysis is based on specific projects implemented within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. The author examines Chinese projects in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, including both successful cooperation cases and controversial ones. The article also discusses China's guiding principles for building relations with developing countries, such as combatting hegemony, perceiving “benefits and justice” correctly and maintaining the historical continuity of China's diplomatic approaches. The paper analyses critical assessments of Chinese credit policy by the collective West, accusations of neocolonialism and debt-trap policy. At the same time, the research presents the point of view of the Global South countries, whose leaders often see China as a strategic and mutually beneficial partner. The paper considers China’s debt restructuring policy towards partner countries. The author pays special attention to the analysis of diplomatic relations with neighboring countries for China's future rise and domestic development goals, as well as the establishment of a fair international order. The article concludes that China seeks to build sustainable, equitable and pragmatic ties with developing countries and offers a different model for global interaction from the Western one.

Keywords

• china
• global south
• collective west
• xi jinping
• belt and road initiative
• neocolonialism
• debt policy