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China’s Southern Strategy

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China’s Southern Strategy

Beijing Is Using the Global South to Constrain America

Foreign Affairs,

5 min read
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China has long had its eye on the global South.

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China has its eye on the global South, but this isn’t a new strategy, Asian expert Nadège Rolland notes in this intriguing article. While the idea originated back in the 1950s, it’s only now, after years of double-digit economic growth, that China can execute its vision. It hopes to spread its influence and governing philosophies to developing countries that have missed out on the economic promise of democracy. So what should America do? Rolland writes that just reacting to China’s moves has already put the United States a step behind, and she suggests what America can do to retain its power.

Summary

President Xi Jinping is trying to claim China’s place as the leading world power.

Xi Jinping has been reinforcing China’s military, political, diplomatic and economic strength. The goal is to take over as the world’s superpower, ending US global hegemony.

Xi isn’t the first of China’s leaders to embrace this plan: In the 1950s, Mao Zedong believed that the third world – Latin America, Africa and Asia – would have to unite against the first world, the United States and Soviet Union, and act as an offset to the second world, consisting of Japan, Australia, Canada and Western Europe. Mao’s “three worlds” theory, much like Xi’s current plans, involved exerting a strong influence on the ...

About the Author

Nadège Rolland is a senior fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research.

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